


Dark Events

by Razial



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Action/Adventure, Ancestors, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Prophecy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 09:04:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 48,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10273214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Razial/pseuds/Razial
Summary: Xander and Tara fall in love when they find out about a prophecy which was created by their ancestors.





	

Dark Events 

Disclaimer: I do now own Buffy or any of the others characters in this story except for the ones I have created.

Pairing: Xander/Tara

I'd like to thank my beta's Bob and Hawklan for all of their help with this story.

 

A big thank you to cloudleonsgurl for this piece of art. You can find her/his other work under:  
http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-24255-209/cloudleonsgurl+The+Worlds+She+Never+Walked.htm

 

*

Chapter 1

Xander sighed as the rain continued to pour down while they continued to patrol. Buffy, Riley and Giles were checking the east side of the cemetery whilst he, Willow and Tara checked the right. He looked at the two lesbian witches and noticed they looked just as miserable as he and just as wet. For some reason he couldn't understand, he started to laugh, causing his two friends to look at him in total confusion.

"What is so funny Xander?" he heard his long time friend, Willow ask him.

"I-I don't know, I just can't help it," he answered.

"Maybe he's gone mad," suggested Tara.

This made him laugh all the harder as he faced Tara, who took a hesitant step back, as if she was afraid he'd do something to her.

"I am not mad Tara. I just thought the look of you two soaked and miserable was funny, seeing as I am just as wet and miserable," he told her.

"O-Oh," replied Tara.

Before either one of them could speak again, three vampires jumped out of a nearby tomb, stunning the two witches. Two of them ran in the opposite direction; however, the third jumped toward Tara with his game face on. Xander suddenly felt his blood boil at the thought of Tara being hurt and jumped in front of her. The vampire knocked him to the ground and began to beat him mercilessly. Xander tried to shield himself and even managed to return a few punches, but his vision began to blur and his body weaken under the onslaught and just as he felt himself lose himself, he saw Buffy tackle the vamp.

When he awoke, he felt a sharp pain run right through his body from head to toe. He tried to sit up, but he felt someone push him back down again. He opened his eyes to find Willow and Buffy looking down at him. Willow looked concerned, while Buffy seemed ready to shout at him. He then noticed it was Giles who was holding him down. He saw he was in Giles' bedroom, which was dark, except for the night lamp on the nightstand next to the bed.

"G-Giles?" he asked.

"Good, you're finally awake. Do you remember what happened?" the Watcher asked.

"I-I think we were attacked by a vamp. He went for Tara, but I managed to get in his way. After that, it's a blank," he replied rubbing his head.

"The Vampire gave you a very sound beating for getting in his way. Luckily, we were heading back your way when we saw the other two vamps running away from the scene," Giles told him.

"Where are we?" he asked the Watcher.

"My house, it was closer than yours," Giles replied.

"Why did only one of them attack?" Xander asked as Willow handed him a glass of water.

"I think they were up to something, I'm not quite sure yet," Giles answered.

"Wait a second, where is Tara? Is she okay?" Xander asked as he noticed the witch missing.

"She and Willow were a little stunned by the sudden appearance of the vamps. However, Tara fainted after Buffy showed up. I think the sight of a vampire lunging at her was too much for her," Giles answered.

"I can tell you have something to add, Buff," Xander said without looking at his friend.

"Oh, I have something to say alright. Xand, just what the hell were you thinking tackling a vampire like that?" she all but screamed.

"I was trying to keep Tara out of harm's way, that's what I was thinking. What? Would you rather I stood there while it beat her up until you arrived to save the day?" he shot back with an angry scowl.

Buffy didn't respond, she just frowned and walked out of the room. He looked to Willow who just smiled at him.

"Thanks, for making sure Tara didn't get hurt. Sorry I wasn't any help," she told him.

"It's okay, we were all surprised," he replied.

"I have to say Xander, although you put yourself at risk, I am quite proud of you for thinking of someone else before you own safety," Giles told him with a smile of his own.

"Thanks Giles," Xander said, as pride swelled within him.

"Now that you are awake, maybe I should try and find out what the other two vampires were up to," Giles mused, more to himself than the others.

"Trouble is what they were up to," said a new voice and they all recognized it as Spike's.

"How did you get in here?" Giles asked.

"Door was open, heard what happened, so I checked out the area where you were attacked. Those two vamps took a powerful artifact from that tomb they were in. One which could bring back the Master, in fact not just him, any powerful demon they want."

"My god! How?" Giles asked, now in full watcher mode.

"They need to combine them with one or two other things and also they need a very old magic scroll which was once protected by the most powerful sorcerer alive. His name was Robert Harris," Spike answered.

"Wait a second, did you just say Harris?" asked Willow.

"Yes, Red, I did. I think he may have been an ancestor of Droopy over there," Spike smiled.

"How do you know this?" Buffy asked as she re-entered the room.

"Been digging around the old demon libraries since I got that blasted chip in my head and that's not all. From what I found out, Tara's and Buffy's ancestor were involved as well. Seems as she was not the only Slayer in her family," Spike replied as he lit up a cigarette.

"Fascinating, Spike. I will need you to gather everything you have read on this and bring it to me. I'll pay of course, seeing as that's the only way you'll get involved," Giles said.

"No problem, Giles. Be back tomorrow with the stuff. You better have the money," he agreed before he left the room.

"This is getting confusing," Xander whispered.

"Indeed," Giles said with a frown, wondering what this could all mean.

Xander had not moved for at least five hours, at Giles' insistence. He was thinking about what Spike had said. Could his family history date back to this great sorcerer who shared the same name? Could he be some great ancestor, forgotten in the mists of time? He finally got up and stretched, wincing slightly as a small tremor of pain shot through his back letting him know not all of his injuries had relented. He walked into the next room to find Giles reading one his books. Willow was asleep on the couch and Buffy was watching the TV, although she looked ready to fall asleep as well.

"Found anything Giles?" he asked quietly.

"No, I've not, except for a small sketch of the Wizard, Spike mentioned. Unfortunately it is badly degraded so we cannot tell if he bears a resemblance to you," the watcher replied rubbing his eyes.

"Guess we'll have to rely on Spike then," Xander said, as he sat across from the watcher.

"Yes, what a dreadful thought," he said with a dry chuckle. "Oh, Buffy has called Angel and asked him to come and help, just in case it is something big," he added.

"Just dead boy?" asked Xander.

"No, his whole team including their newest member, some girl named Fred. By the way, Xand, do you have to call him that?" Buffy said as she joined them.

"Sorry, old habits die hard." He shrugged as he answered the slayer.

"Well try, will you?" she asked.

"Whatever," he replied, not really likening the idea of being nice to the ensouled vampire.

"What about this slayer Spike mentioned, the one he said was related to me?" Buffy asked.

"I've found nothing so far and the same goes for Tara's ancestor as well. If there is a connection at all, I am thinking of phoning our old friend Quentin Travers and see if they can find out anything," Giles answered.

"Oh no, not more watchers. We may be working with them again, but I still don't trust them. Dawn maybe safe now that she's staying with our father, but still, if they ever found out about her, they could do anything and you know it," Buffy butted in.

"Take it easy, will ya Buffy? I think we get the point, but we may not have a choice," Xander said with a smile.

"You stay out of this. It doesn't concern you," Buffy hissed.

"But it does Buffy and you know it. I've been involved since the beginning and now that involvement may go way deeper than we thought, so don't even think of trying to keep me in the dark," Xander interjected.

"I agree, this could be very dangerous if we keep anyone in the dark. If Spike is right and each of you had an ancestor involved, then we need you, Tara and Xander together," Giles added.

"Fine," Buffy conceded.

"Hey guys," Willow said with a yawn.

"Sorry if we woke you," Giles said.

"That's okay. I need to go back to my dorm to see if Tara is alright." Willow stretched and then headed for the door.

"I'll walk you there," Xander said as he joined her. "See you two tomorrow," he said as he exited the house.

As Willow and Xander walked toward her dorm room, Willow noticed that her friend seemed a little distracted and the look in his eyes made her worry.

"Are you okay Xander?" she decided to ask.

"Yeah, just a little annoyed at the way Buffy keeps shouting at me every time we run into trouble," Xander replied with a glance back the way they had come.

"Well, she's worried about you. That's all," she countered.

"I'd like to think so, but then I'd believe a lie. I know you've noticed as well, Willow. Ever since Riley turned up, Buffy just doesn't seem to want me involved, it's been like this ever since that Hellmouth incident," Xander said, a little of his anger toward Buffy coming out.

"I guess, but you proved us all wrong by saving us from that zombie gang all by yourself," Willow said hoping to cheer him up.

"I don't think Buffy sees it that way. It's been harder ever since Anya split with that vengeance demon. I think Buffy just sees me now as a damn liability," he hissed, as they turned into the campus grounds.

"Ignore her then, because I know for a fact that you are not a liability. You've saved my life, Tara's, hell you even brought Buffy back from the dead. That proves you are no liability Xander Harris," Willow said with confidence.

"Thanks, that means a lot. Say hi to Tara for me," he said with a smile.

"Going home?" she inquired.

"Maybe, I think I might just take stroll." At Willow's worried glance, he smiled and added. "Don't worry, I have a cross and a few stakes with me," he said to reassure her.

"See you tomorrow, Xand," she said, as she entered the dorm halls.

"Yeah, tomorrow," he agreed, with a dark look as he headed toward the park.

As he wandered through the park, he began to feel like he was being followed. He turned and scanned the park, but saw no one, until a shadow suddenly walked out into the moon light. He quickly drew a stake and readied himself.

"Are you Alexander Harris?" a soft voice seemed to float toward him.

"Yeah," he answered, as he watched a woman dressed in a red silk dress walk closer to him. She had long black hair and piercing blue eyes. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Rachel Wells," she answered. "I was a friend of your great ancestor, Robert," she added.

"How can that be?" he asked a little taken back.

"He cast an immortality spell on me, so the prophecy he created could be fulfilled, so the demons could be stopped. I was in love with him and so I volunteered to help. I am here to help you, Tara and Buffy," she replied, as she stopped right in front of him.

"Ho-how do you know their names?" he asked.

"Robert knew exactly what you would be called and when the prophecy would begin," she answered.

"How do I know you aren't some vampire trying to trick me?" he inquired.

"Because if I was, I wouldn't do this," she answered as she leaned in and kissed him softly.

Xander was stunned, but as the kiss deepened, he felt no hostility from the woman. As they pulled apart, they were both breathing hard.

"If I was a vampire, that kiss would have had no truth behind it, and a kiss never lies," she said with a smile, as she turned and began to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going?" he shouted.

"Home and don't worry, Alex. I'll find you no matter where you are," she replied and then she was gone. Leaving him confused and stunned as he headed for home.  
2\. Chapter 2  
Chapter 2

The next day the gang all gathered in the Magic Box to meet up with Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and Fred. Spike also turned up, covered in a blanket to make sure the sun didn't dust him. Angel had used the gem of Amara, so he could move around in the day.

"Here you go mate," Spike said, as he placed a bag full of books on Giles' table and then sat down, as Giles handed him his money, which he placed inside his leather jacket. Angel gave him a cold glare, which he ignored.

"Now it will take some time to go through all this, but if Spike is right, then it is crucial we learn everything we can and who is attempting to utilize this spell," Giles started.

As the conversation continued, Xander just sat in his chair, thinking about Rachel and what she had told him. He had not managed to get much sleep, as his dreams had been invaded by visions of death and destruction. He had even dreamed that Willow, Tara and the rest of the gang, had been killed right in front of him. The dream had shaken him badly and he couldn't help but wonder if there was some truth to it. He couldn't tell Buffy and the others, because he knew they would say only Buffy had dreams like that.

"Xander, are you listening?" he suddenly heard Giles ask.

"What? Sorry, I guess this thing has me a little off balance," he replied.

"Not surprising, if Spike is right and this Robert Harris is related to you," Giles agreed.

"So let's begin going through the books. Buffy, maybe you and Angel should return to the crypt and see if the vampires left any clues," Giles suggested.

"No problem," Buffy smiled.

"What about me, Giles? I'm not very good at research," Riley asked.

"Riley, maybe you should have a word with our resident snitch, Willy," Giles answered, knowing Riley didn't like the idea of Buffy being around her ex.

Xander suddenly got up and began heading for the door, ignoring the questions coming from his friends. Only when Buffy forcibly yanked him around did he noticed they were there.

"Where are you going Xand?" Buffy asked with a glare.

"I-I-I don't know, I just have an urge to be somewhere," he said.

"An urge?" she questioned.

"Yeah, an urge, you know, that felling where you have to be somewhere else," he said, still with a confused look on his face as he looked around. "It's like I'm been called by someone," he added.

"By who?" Giles asked, as he moved toward them.

"Let him go, all of you," a new voice suddenly burst through the room. Everyone turned to see a man sitting on the counter with a smile. Buffy had seen him before, but from what Angel had said, he was dead. She noticed the shocked faces of Angel and Cordelia.

"Doyle?" Angel gasped.

"I said let him go, Buffy," the man now known as Doyle repeated.

Buffy looked at Xander again and noticed his eyes had gone a little hazy and he was turning once again toward the door. She grabbed him and then spoke to the newcomer.

"No, not till you tell us who wants him and where he's going," she said.

"Sorry Slayer, no can do," another new voice said from behind Doyle. They watched as another man came into view.

"Whistler?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"Good to see you again. Now please, let Alex go. This is important Buffy," he replied. Buffy stared at him for a minute and then released her friend, who quickly opened the door and left.

"What was that all about?" Angel asked, as he approached Doyle.

"For now, that doesn't concern ya, man. You need to get started on that research if you wanna beat this thing," Doyle answered him.

"How-how are you back?" This came from Cordelia, who looked close to tears.

"Let's just say the PTB like me. It's good to see you again, princess," Doyle said with a wide smile, which she returned.

"What about you, Whistler? What are you doing here?" Angel asked.

"Just here to make sure things don't get unbalanced. Doyle is here to help you, but don't think he'll be back for good. He'll be needed elsewhere. I'll see you guys later," he informed them all and then he stepped back into the shadows and vanished. Leaving Doyle sitting on the counter with a smile on his face, as Cordelia approached him and then threw her arms around him in a tight hug while Angel shook his hand.

"It's good to have you back, Doyle," Angel told him.

"Thanks man, it's a little lonely in the ether," he replied.

Buffy walked away from the door toward where Angel and Cordelia were speaking with their lost friend with a determined look on her face.

"So what now, Buffy?" Willow asked.

"I guess we do as we suggested before all this happened," she sighed.

"B-B-but what about X-X-Xander?" Tara finally spoke up and they all noticed the concern in her voice.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. I doubt Whistler would of let him go if he was in danger," Giles said, hoping to reassure her.

"Yeah, well it's his problem for now. We have more important things to do," Buffy said.

"Buffy, he's your friend; how could you think so little of him?" Willow almost screamed, as she stood and approached her, Buffy just stared at her, unable to think of a response. Riley jumped in to help.

"Come on Willow, Xander will be fine. I mean he's not exactly the smartest guy in the world or the strongest. Hell, I'm surprised he's not dead by now and I bet he would be, if not for Buffy," he said.

Willow's eyes turned cold as she looked from Buffy to Riley and back again, noting Buffy smile a little and nod her head. She turned to Riley and kneed him hard in between his legs. Riley let a strangled cry of pain, as he slumped to the ground clutching his privates. Buffy turned to scream at Willow, but her friend beat her to it.

"Xander wouldn't be dead if not for you. If not for him you'd still be dead when the master killed you. He proved his strength that day and he's done more than that, he's saved mine, Tara's and hell everyone's life when he took on that zombie gang on his own, because we were too busy with the Hellmouth. You don't appreciate all he's done for you and us. If you ever insult him like that again, you'll both pay." As Willow finished, Buffy noticed her eyes glow red for a few minutes. She watched then, as Willow turned and left the shop, followed by Tara, leaving them all shocked, except for Riley, who was still rolling around in pain.

+++

Tara watched as her angry girlfriend continued to stalk toward their dorm muttering curses at Buffy and Riley. She could tell that what Riley had said had really angered her, but what had made her snap, was Buffy's agreement with it. Since she had gotten involved with Willow and her friends, she had learned a lot about their history, and although they had both become tight with Buffy, nothing could compare to the knot between her and Xander. She herself had come to like him very much, although she didn't talk to him often, because she felt shy about him.

She had noticed Buffy's increasing irritation with Xander, especially when he got into fights with vampires and demons. She didn't understand it and for some reason she felt angry at Buffy herself and, as she realized that, she felt a shiver go down her spine.

+++

Xander walked toward a small motel on the edge of town in a trance, he didn't even notice Oz's van pulling into the Sunnydale petrol station, until Oz shouted him over. Still in a trance he walked over to his friend, he noticed Oz was now sporting a small goatee and was wearing a loose shirt and jeans.

"Hey Xand, where you going?" he wondered, as Xander came to a halt in front of him.

"I'm not too sure really, where have you been?" Xander replied, looking around them as if searching for something.

"I was searching for a man who was supposed to have gained control over the wolf after he was bitten. I found him and he taught me how to control mine," Oz replied, as he paid the garage man for the petrol.

"So, you are heading over to see Willow?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, I've got this inkling like I should be here for something," his friend replied with a frown.

"I think you'd be right. Anyway, I'll see you later. I gotta go," Xander told him, as he began to walk away. Leaving Oz standing alone and very confused, as he got back into his van and headed for the university dorms.

+++

Buffy walked silently next to Angel as they headed for the abandoned factory, to see if anything was there. The fact that Angel was walking in the daylight was really unnerving her and the altercation with Willow was also bothering her, but the one thing she didn't like was that Xander was somehow the most important figure in this mystery and for some reason that annoyed her. She didn't know why, but ever since their senior year in school she had just wished Xander would leave the group. Angel looked down at his former love and sighed. It was painful for him to be around her and not be able to kiss her, but he knew in the end it was for the best.

"Angel, do you think you could convince Doyle to tell you what's Xander's part is in all of this?" Buffy said finally speaking.

"I could try, but I doubt he would tell us. Anyway, what does it matter?" Angel replied, he had always hated Xander and even now that hate was still buried in him. The guy just got on his nerves and there was the fact that he had loved Buffy and most likely still does deep down.

"I don't like that he's involved so deeply in this," Buffy continued, as if she hadn't heard Angel's reply.

"How come?" he asked, a little annoyed that she seemed to be ignoring his presence.

"Xander has never been a good fighter. Hell, he's almost been killed a dozen times and last night he was almost beaten into oblivion. I just think he would have been better if he had never found out I was the Slayer," she answered him, still refusing to look at him.

"I wouldn't suggest you bring that up with Willow or Tara," Angel said, wishing she would talk about something else.

"I have the right to say it. I'm the Slayer," Buffy hissed.

"True, but Willow is his friend and she cares from him a lot, although I think I'm mad for saying this, but I have to agree with what Willow said before," Angel replied, not believing he was actually backing Xander up. Buffy whirled on the ensouled vampire with any angry glare.

"How can you say that? You hate Xander," Buffy seethed.

"Maybe, but even I can't say he hasn't helped you in the past, Buffy, and to do so is just stupid and childish. He has helped you fight the darkness since you came here. He brought you back to life and he faced off against Angelus at the hospital, when you were sick. Angelus would have killed you or worse turned you that night. If he hadn't been there to watch over you," Angel shot back, getting a little angry himself.

"You never told me about that before," Buffy said.

"I-I didn't want to. I thought if I told you, then you may have started seeing Xander a little differently," Angel admitted.

"Angel, let's get this straight. I could never in my life find Xander attractive, okay? I'd have to be crazy to even think it," Buffy told him angrily.

"I wouldn't say that either," Angel said.

"Who cares," Buffy snapped as she turned and once again headed for the factory. She stopped a few meters from the door and faced Angel again.

"What about Tara?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

"You said I shouldn't insult Xander in front of Willow or Tara. Why Tara? Why would she defend Xander?" Buffy asked.

"First she is Willow's girlfriend, second Xander saved her life and third because I felt some very strong emotions coming off Tara when she asked about him," Angel explained.

"She's a lesbian, so don't even suggest that she has deeper feelings for Xander. I mean, apart from Willow, who would?" Buffy asked the vampire who just shook his head as they entered the factory, not understanding Buffy's sudden dislike of Xander.  
3\. Chapter 3  
Chapter 3

Oz pulled his van into the campus parking lot and smiled as he noticed Willow and Tara entering the main student building. He quickly turned off the ignition and got out and locked the door and then headed toward the same building. He hoped that his appearance wouldn't cause a disturbance like it did the last time. As he entered the building, he bumped straight into Tara, almost knocking the young witch over. She seemed very surprised by his appearance and he couldn't blame her really.

"O-o-Oz," she stammered.

"Hey Tara," he said with a small smile.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I need to speak to Willow and Buffy. You see, I've been getting this weird feeling like something big is going down," he explained, knowing Tara knew about Buffy being the Slayer. "And the fact that I just saw Xander acting really strange and out of it, confirmed my suspicions," he added.

As soon as Tara heard Oz mention Xander, she felt her heart rate increase for reasons she couldn't understand. Ever since she had met Xander, she had felt something about him. Something she had never felt for any other guy and it seemed to be getting stronger and that scared her. She suddenly noticed Oz watching her and fought to keep herself from blushing.

"Willow is just sorting out one her courses, she should be here soon," Tara informed him.

"Great, I'll be waiting in my van just out there," he said, pointing to the van outside. "Can you make sure once she's done, she sees me? It's important, I know it is," he added.

"Sure," Tara replied and watched Oz as he left.

+++

Xander headed straight for the park, where he had met Rachel the night before. He still had no clue to why he was walking there. His mind was filled with troubling images and noises he couldn't understand. As he entered the park, he began to get the feeling someone was watching him.

He began looking over his shoulder, but he couldn't see anyone. As he turned to continue heading into the park, someone appeared in front of him. He raised his hands in a defensive posture, not knowing where the knowledge to do such a thing came from, when he noticed the person was Rachel herself.

She was smiling at him and he could tell from the look in her eyes, that she had expected him to be ready for some sort of attack. He took note that she was now dressed in tight black pants and a loose strapless top and she reminded him of the clothes Buffy wore when she was training. As soon as the thought of Buffy came to him, he pushed it away again. His anger at her was still fresh in his memory.

"I see it has already started," she said, as he let his arms drop to his side.

"What's started?" Xander asked, a little tremor running through his voice.

"Robert's memories are beginning to surface. However, your mind cannot make sense out of them yet. I take it your mind is filled with sounds and images?" she replied.

Xander just nodded, becoming wary of Rachel knowing exactly what was happening to him. She had been a friend to Robert, but he found it hard to believe he would have known what would happen to his descendant.

"How do you know that? I doubt even Robert would have known," he inquired.

"Robert visited a seer, so that he would exactly know what would happen. I guess he was lucky, as he knew the most powerful seer ever, Sara Rosenberg," Rachel told him.

"Ro-Rosenberg?" Xander said in surprise. "You mean," he said, trying to get the words out.

"Yes, as in Willow Rosenberg's great ancestor. I know you have leaned from that vampire about Buffy's, Tara's and your ancestors being involved, but only I, and the dark force you will face, knows the entire story and who was involved," Rachel informed him.

Xander was floored. This was getting totally out of control. First he finds out he had a great ancestor who was a wizard and that he was friends with his best friends girlfriend's ancestor and Buffy's, and now he learned that he also knew Willow's ancestor, who was a powerful seer. He began to feel a little dizzy and quickly walked over to a bench and sat down. He barely noticed Rachel sitting down as well.

"I know it's a lot to take in, Alex, but everything I have said is true. You must be prepared or we are all doomed," she told him gently, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I believe you, Rachel. I'm just having a hard time dealing with all the new information," he replied, giving her a warm smile which she returned.

"I'm afraid they get worse, a lot worse, before this fight is finished. Now we must start your training," she answered, her smile vanishing.

"Huh! What training?" he asked, a little fear creeping into his voice.

"I am going to train you in hand-to-hand combat and weapons and I will teach you to use your latent magical skills," she answered while standing up.

"Latent skills?" he questioned.

"Well, I guess they are not really latent skills. They're the skills of Robert, which have been in a sense transferred to you by the PTB," she explained.

"Did Robert work for the Powers?" Xander suddenly asked.

"Yes, he did, and they are the ones who are giving you Robert's memories and skills," she answered.

"Now come, we have a lot to do," she said holding out her hand to him. Xander looked at her for a few minutes and then firmly took her hand and allowed her to lead him away.

+++

Giles sighed as he read one of the books Spike had brought him. He removed his glasses and rubbed his nose and eyes. He was tired and not just from all the reading he had been doing.

He was worried what all of this meant and how it would change the lives of his friends, especially his slayers. He had been troubled with Buffy's actions as of late, including her irritation with Xander, which to him, didn't make sense. Now that irritation was causing friction with Willow and he could sense Tara had been upset as well. Then there was Riley. If it got any worse and they started fighting each other, then it was a very good bet they wouldn't survive what was to come, and that bothered him greatly.

He stood up and made his way to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. He was careful not to make too much noise, as Cordelia had fallen asleep during the last hour. Wesley, Fred and Gunn had gone out to meet a source Wesley had contacted, and Riley had gone to Willy's.

Doyle had gone to talk to someone he believed would be very helpful, although he wouldn't say whom that person was, and Spike had gone to get himself some blood. He quickly made himself his tea, sat back down and tried to concentrate on the book he had been reading, when a noise to his left made him jump up, he turned around to find his old friend and nemesis, Ethan Rayne, standing in his doorway with Wesley and the others behind him.

"What is this, what is he doing here?" Giles said walking over to them.

"We found him sneaking around near your house so we thought you wanna talk to him," Wesley answered, pushing Ethan forward into the shop.

"I see. Put him over there, near the counter, and keep an eye on him. We'll wait until Buffy and Angel get back," Giles said in obvious anger at seeing Ethan again.

"Not happy to see me, Ripper?" Ethan said with a cold smile.

"No, I'm not. Now shut up," Giles said trying to keep his voice down and his anger bottled up.

"What a shame, I do have some information that could be helpful to you," Ethan shrugged, knowing he was angering Giles.

"And what would that be?" Gunn asked him stepping towards the chaos mage.

"That is between me and Rupert," Ethan shot back.

Gunn quickly moved forward and grabbed Ethan by his shirt and threw him against the counter and followed it up, by grabbing a knife he carried in his jacket and placing it at Ethan's throat. "Tell us what you know now or so help me I'll make you wish you were dead," Gunn threatened him. Ethan, instead of fearing for his life, just smiled at the angry man in front of him and turned to Giles.

"Please call off your dog, Rupert," he said. This angered Gunn even more and he quickly brought his knee up into Ethan's chest winding him and then brought his foot up again and kicked him in the face, knocking the mage out cold.

"Was that really necessary, Gunn?" Fred asked her friend.

"Yeah," Gunn replied, placing his knife back into his jacket.

"We'd better tie him up. Will you place him in that chair, whilst I go and find some rope?" Giles said, as he headed into the back of the magic shop.

"No problem," Gunn grunted. "Wes, give us a hand," he said.

Wesley nodded and helped Gunn to place the unconscious mage onto one of the chairs. Giles returned a moment later and tied him to the chair, making sure the rope was tight. As he looked toward where Cordelia was, he was amazed to find the girl still asleep.  
4\. Chapter 4  
Chapter 4

Buffy spun around as her slayer senses went off and she scanned the higher levels of the factory. She noticed Angel take up a defensive posture as well, as she looked around two figures quickly jumped off one of the platforms and knocked her over. She rolled with one of her attackers and came up into a crouching position, to see the other attacker engaged in a fight with Angel.

She stood and removed one of the stakes from her pockets and faced her own opponent, relived to find it was a vampire, although this one seemed different to most she had encountered. The vampire had a black tattoo down his left cheek, which looked like a wolf and his eyes seemed to glow green. She also noticed that he had metal claws attached to his hands. She backed off a bit and quickly looked over her shoulder to see Angel down on one knee with multiple cuts on his arms and chest. As she faced the vamp again, it jumped toward her and brought one of its claws down in a sweeping motion.

She just managed to step back in time before it could cut into her chest, but she wasn't fast enough to stop its other claw from cutting into her ankle. She jumped back only to be hit from behind by a third vamp. She pushed herself to her feet and moved back into a corner facing the two vamps and was soon joined by Angel, who was badly beaten.

"Any ideas?" she asked.

"We can't fight them, they're too fast. It's like they have some kind of power flowing through them," Angel replied.

Before she could answer Spike appeared behind the first Vamp, Angel had been fighting and staked it and smiled as it turned to dust and then quickly jumped toward the other two. Buffy and Angel also made toward the remaining two vamps, but before they reached them, the two vamps shouted something and then vanished, leaving Buffy and the two vamps stunned.

"What the hell?" Spike shouted.

"Let's get out of here now," Buffy said.

Before either of the vamps could answer, the two vamps they had been fighting reappeared and charged them, knocking them all to the ground. Spike was the first to his feet and spun, kicking the first of the two vamps in the chest and then bringing his other knee up into its face knocking it over. Before he could follow up though, the second vamp grabbed an iron bar and slammed it into Spike's back.

"Bloody Hell," Spike gasped as he fell to the floor.

Buffy quickly got to her feet and grabbed another stake. She jumped at the first vamp as it got up and rammed her stake into its chest, but as she did that, the vamp managed to turn and bury one of its claws into her lower arm. She cried out as the vamp turned to dust and fell to her knees as Angel managed to stake the third vamp, while it was trying to maim Spike with the iron bar.

"Come on Spike, we need to get Buffy to the Magic Box now," Angel said, as he helped Buffy to her feet and headed for the exit, followed by Spike who had lit up one his cigs.

+++

Willow walked out of the classroom she had been in and walked to where Tara was standing. She noticed Tara was talking to tall brunette, who was wearing a tight mini skirt and a loose shirt she had seen around the campus. As she approached the brunette noticed her and nodded in her direction, Tara turned and smiled at her, just as she came to a stop next to her girlfriend she caught the brunette checking her out. Her blue eyes seemed to look straight through her and she fought to stop herself from blushing.

"Hey Tara," she said.

"Hey, th-this is Jill," her girlfriend replied, indicating the brunette who smiled at her.

"Hi Jill, nice to meet you," Willow said with a smile.

"Same here, I've gotta get to chemistry, but I'll see you guys later," Jill replied with a smile, as she turned and walked away.

"What did she mean by that?" Willow asked confused.

"Oh, I-I-I said we'd meet her at the student bar later on," Tara told her. "Oh, I almost forgot, Oz is here," she added nervously.

"Oz, where?" Willow almost demanded. Her eyes wide in surprise.

"He said he'd wait out in his van," Tara said, indicating the blue ford van just visible through the doors. Willow seemed anguished and excited at the same time. She slowly made her way outside, toward the van, with Tara close behind. Oz watched as Willow and Tara made their way toward him and he silently got out of the van and smiled and Willow came to a stop just a few meters away.

"Hey," he smiled uneasily. He was worried Willow may feel uncomfortable with his presence.

"Oz," she replied giving him a quick hug. "Why are you here?" she asked as she let go.

"I got the feeling something bad was going to happen around here and so I came. I bumped into Xander down near the patrol station and he was acting kind of weird and it seemed to confirm my suspicions," he explained to his ex-lover.

"You may be right. Something bad is coming; you better come with us to the Magic Box," she told him.

"I'll give you a ride, come on get in." He smiled at them as he opened the side door for them,

Willow smiled back and quickly got into the van. Tara followed, but stayed quiet, still remembering the last time she had met Oz.

+++

Xander closed his eyes as Rachel had instructed and tried to concentrate on the images that were flowing through his mind. All he could see was a tall man with a beard and black hair shouting something to a woman, who was in the midst of some kind of battle. The man then raised his hand and a blue light struck out toward the figures that were attacking the women.

They seemed to be vampires but they were different. They had glowing green eyes and metal claws attached to their hands and some kind of tattoo. He felt a shiver run down his spine, as the girl staked one of them and then was sent flying into a nearby wall by a ball of orange flame. He watched as a tall shadow seemed to appear from nowhere, and just as he saw a glint of white, his eyes snapped open. He found Rachel watching him from a chair with a grim look.

"What did you see Alex?" she asked.

"A man with black hair and a beard shouting to a woman, I think she had brownish hair and she was fighting some weird kind of vampire," he replied.

"Those vampires are the followers of an old one called Valnon," she told him.

"Old one?" Xander asked confused, although the name seemed familiar to him.

"The old ones were the creatures who used to roam the world before humans came to inhabit it. A few of them managed to hide away and not get driven through the portal that banished them from this world," she explained.

"What about the green eyes and tattoos on the vampires?" he asked.

"They are the mark all of Valnon's followers. They are different from most vampires you may have encountered, they have been blessed by Valnon with powers beyond that of the normal vampires," she answered stood up and went to the window.

"Who was the girl, the one fighting them?" Xander asked while joining her at the window.

"Her name was Jenna, she was the slayer at the time," Rachel said facing him.

"You mean she was Buffy's ancestor?" Xander asked again, still having a hard time dealing with all the information he had been given. She nodded and started at the window, contemplating the meaning of what could happen.

 

+++

Giles watched with unease as Angel and Spike helped Buffy into one of the chairs. She had a deep laceration in her ankle and a cut down her shoulder, although she didn't seem to notice it.

He quickly went and got the first aid box and began to tend to Buffy's injuries. As he did, the door to the Magic Box opened again, revealing Willow and Tara followed surprisingly by Oz. He didn't know why he was back, but he was sure it might have had something to do with what they were facing.

+++

Night seemed to fall quickly as Xander made his way toward the Magic Box along with Rachel. He had managed to convince her to tell all she knew to Giles and the others, so it would help them deal with the coming threat. As they came close to the shop, three vampires jumped out of the brushes and Xander quickly noticed that they each had green eyes and metal claws. Once again he dropped into a defensive position, as did Rachel and both pulled out a stake.

"Be careful Alex, these vamps are fast and can easily out fight us," Rachel cautioned him.

"Any suggestions?" he asked.

"Try and send a warning to Tara," Rachel shot back, as the vampires closed in.

"How?" he asked stunned. "And why Tara?" he added.

"She will pick it up, believe me. As to how, just concentrate on her and ask for help," she answered, as she took a few steps back.

Xander followed her and closed his eyes and brought up an image of Tara. He was surprised to find it came to him so easily and he quickly sent the cry for help and their location. He didn't know if it worked, as he sensed one of the vampires close in on him. His eyes snapped open and he just barely managed to side step the vamp's attack. He turned to engage the vamp and he hoped that Tara had received his cry.  
5\. Chapter 5  
Chapter 5

Tara sat and listened, as Buffy described the vampires that had attacked her and Angel and the image she created of these vamps sent a shiver down her spine. Ethan had refused to tell them anything so far, even with Angel's friend Gunn threatening him.

Doyle had not returned as of yet and she could sense that Angel and Cordelia were worried about him and she couldn't blame them. Willow herself was full of worry for Xander, who no one had seen since this morning when he seemed to be controlled by something or someone and she could also sense some concern about Oz's reappearance.

"Green eyes, a tattoo of a wolf and metal claws attached to their hands, hmmm I don't seem to recall any vampires like that," Giles mused, as he stood and walked to the counter.

"So I guess this means more research, right Giles?" Cordelia said dismally.

"Of course," Giles replied absently, not noticing Cordelia's frown.

"Is there anything else you remember about these vampires?" Wesley asked.

"They seemed faster, more powerful than any vampire before, and they could turn invisible; man that was creepy," Buffy said with a grimace.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Spike said from the stairs.

"What about you Angel?" Oz asked, speaking for first time since everyone had questioned him about his return.

"I don't recall hearing anything about vampires like these," he answered.

"So we finally encounter something new, how lucky for us," Buffy said, full of false optimism.

Tara was about to speak when from out of nowhere she thought she heard a voice cry out for help and an image of the park. Suddenly the voice became clear, it was Xander's and he was in trouble. Fear began to run through her in waves at the thought of Xander dying. She quickly stood up and walked toward the door, only turning to the others when she realized what she thought of doing.

"Tara?" Willow asked confused.

"It-it's Xander, he's in trouble," she told them all.

"How do you know that?" Giles asked.

"I-I'm not sure, but I heard him cry for help, we have to go and help him," she replied, catching Buffy's frown.

"Do you know where he is?" Willow asked, walking toward her girlfriend.

"He's at the park, there's a woman there with him," Tara answered.

"What woman?" Buffy asked standing up.

"I don't know," Tara said.

"Enough, let's go now," Giles said grabbing an axe from a cabinet in the corner.

Tara quickly opened the door and headed toward the park with half the group in tow. Gunn and Wesley had decided to stay behind and watch Ethan.

+++

Xander hit the ground hard, as the vampire he had been fighting kicked him in the gut and then elbowed him across the jaw. The pain he felt was incredible, but he managed to push himself to his feet and turn to fight again. Instead he was knocked to the ground again, as the third vampire hit him in the side. He rolled away with everything thing he had left and stood next to a much weakened Rachel.

They were both exhausted and running on empty. Just as the vamps closed in on them, a stake was thrown into the third vamp and it quickly turned to dust. They watched as Buffy stepped into view along with Tara, Willow, Giles, Spike, Cordelia, Angel and Oz. Each had a weapon and they quickly attacked the remaining vamps. Tara was sent flying against a headstone by the first vamp as she tried to stake it, but as it turned to face Willow, Giles swung his axe carving his head clean off and watched in smug satisfaction as it turned to dust. Buffy and Angel made quick work of the last vamp and made their way over to the others. Xander helped Tara to her feet. Luckily her head hadn't hit the headstone too hard.

"You okay?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah," she replied, avoiding his eyes as Willow and Oz came to her side.

"Glad you could make it, we were almost done," he said to Giles as he approached.

"Yes, you did look kind of, as you say, 'knackered'," Giles replied with a smile.

"So you wanna tell us why you walking in the park at night with some stranger waiting to get jumped?" Buffy almost yelled at him.

Xander sighed and faced the angry slayer, a little of his own anger and annoyance at Buffy began to surface again.

"Not here, no," he replied as Rachel came up to his side. Buffy glared at the woman who just ignored her.

"I think we'd better get back to the Magic Box," Angel suggested.

"Yes, I agree. Let's go," Giles said.

Buffy agreed and slowly led the rest of them back to Giles' shop. As they entered, they noticed Riley and Doyle had returned from where they had been. Riley didn't smile as he noticed Willow or Xander enter and frowned when he saw Rachel enter.

"Who's the girl?" he inquired.

"Her name," Xander said heatedly, "is Rachel," he finished, a little anger pushing through.

"So why are you hanging around with her?" Gunn asked from behind them.

"Rachel was a friend of Robert Harris, my ancestor," Xander explained, as he sat next to Willow. Rachel followed, ignoring the cold glares Buffy and Riley were giving her.

"But how is that possible?" Giles asked in shock.

"Robert placed an immortality spell on her," Xander answered.

"My god, I thought the immortality spell was only a myth," Wesley said.

"Robert found the spell in an old castle that once belonged to a warrior priest called Dag'amor. He hid it once he had used the spell on me," Rachel told them all.

"Why did he use it anyway? Why make sure you'd be immortal?" Giles asked.

"He wanted someone he trusted to be here to guide Xander and the others involved. Someone who would have the answers they needed, to complete the prophecy he had created to end the fight and destroy the dark one," she answered.

"Who or what is the dark one?" Tara asked fearfully.

"The dark one is called Valnon. As to what he is, he is an old one." As soon as the words left her, the faces of Angel, Spike, Giles and Wesley paled like never before.

"That's impossible!" Giles exclaimed.

"They were all killed or driven into hell," Angel added.

"No, some managed to hide away and escape the cleansing," she informed them.

"We are in the shit now," Spike muttered.

The room went deadly silent as the prospect that they faced something more powerful than ever before chilled them to the bone. Although some of them didn't know exactly what an old one was, but they could guess that it wasn't something good.

Buffy turned a cold eye toward where Ethan was still tied to a chair and then looked toward Giles and caught his gaze and indicated the chaos mage. Giles sighed and walked over to his former friend.

"Ethan, how about telling us what you know?" he said sitting across from him.

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you Rupert. Get me to connect the dots from a to b to c. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be that helpful this time," Ethan said with a smile.

"Listen to me very carefully, you son of a bitch. You are gonna spill yours guts now or I am personally gonna rip your throat out," Buffy shouted, her anger shooting right through her causing Ethan to cringe .

"Buffy, take it easy," Xander said from near the window. Buffy whirled on Xander, fixing him with a murderous glare.

"You shut up right now. You are not in charge here, got it? You are a weakling and an idiot who thinks he's big," Buffy hissed, forgetting Willow's and Angel's warnings. However it wasn't Willow who sent Buffy flying into one of the walls with her magic, it was Tara. As soon as Buffy had said the word 'weakling', her anger had suddenly consumed her and she unleashed a powerful blast of energy, before Willow could even think to act. Buffy slowly pushed herself to her feet and stared at Tara in amazement and shock

"Maybe you should be the one who shuts up, Buffy. You are not the only one here who is in danger. Xander risks his life just like the rest of us. Because we want to help you, we have a choice to fight the darkness or not. We could all leave right now, but you can't. You don't have a choice you have to stay. So maybe you should really take a look at your friends and show them the damn respect they deserve," Tara yelled at her and then turned and stormed off through the door and into the night.

Willow gave Buffy an evil glare before she stood up and ran after her girlfriend with a frown, leaving everyone stunned, especially Buffy.

Ethan smiled as everyone was staring at the door, still in shock at Tara's outburst. "Well it's nice to see that some of your little group has some sense in them Rupert," he said laughing slightly. Before anyone could act, Giles turned and slammed his fist straight into Ethan's face, knocking him unconscious and busting his nose.

"This is not helping the situation," Wesley murmured.

"No, and if it continues, you will all die," Rachel added standing up and walking toward the door.

"Let's go Alex, we still have much to do," she said. Xander didn't bother looking at anyone and left with Rachel. Buffy looked at the door for a few minutes and then said, "Good riddance," with a cold glare.

"Buffy, will you please be quite and stop this bitter animosity you seem to have in you," Giles all but yelled at her, causing Buffy to jump.

+++

Willow walked into her and Tara's dorm room, still somewhat confused by Tara's outburst. She thought most of it was because of what had happened this morning, with her snapping at Buffy and Riley for making Xander sound weak and for not appreciating all his help he had given to Buffy. Yet some part of her couldn't help but think that there could be something else involved.

Tara was sitting at her desk, staring at the wall. Willow easily noticed her eyes flashing red. She wondered what Tara was thinking about now. She went and sat on her bed and turned on the radio on a low volume and watched Tara.

Tara barely noticed Willow enter the dorm and sit on the bed, her anger was still flowing through her. She had only felt this way once before and that was when her family had tried to force her to leave with them. However, this anger was more powerful and ran deeper within her soul. She didn't know why and it scared her.

She turned and walked over to her bed and lay down, trying to ignore Willow's intense gaze, but she couldn't. She turned and looked deep into Willow's eyes and smiled at her. Willow returned the smile and joined Tara on her bed and embraced her. Soon they both fell asleep in each other's arms. As the night wore on though, Tara's dreams were invaded by images of blood and death, and of Xander and her together in some other life, lovers in a distant time, fighting the darkness trying to keep the light shining.

She saw many people die, faces she couldn't recognize and yet their deaths seem to make her feel as if she had lost everything. She woke screaming as she witnessed Xander's death at the hands of a creature so horrid it caused her to rush to the toilet and be sick. Willow woke a few seconds later after hearing the scream and watched in confusion as Tara was sick and then as she returned. She noticed Tara's scared and horrified gaze and it sent a shiver through her very soul.  
6\. Chapter 6  
Chapter 6

Riley woke up and felt tired and sluggish from the near all-nighter they had pulled last night. They had tried many methods to get Ethan to talk, after he had woken up from Giles' punch, but he had refused to tell them anything.

Eventually, Giles had become so angry that his Ripper persona had come to the fore and he had beaten Ethan badly, until Angel and Spike had intervened. Although both had been decked by Giles, it had taken him a while to calm down and get his anger in check.

Wesley had been told to clean Ethan up. Once they had, the mage had told them all he had known, which wasn't much. According to Ethan, Valnon had been recruiting certain demons and vampires to help him. His own followers had been sent out to find certain artifacts and other possible allies. A few had been sent to keep their enemies off guard. This had disturbed Angel and Spike more than it had the others. For if they had still been evil, it was obvious they would have been part of his army and it was still possible that some of Valnon's followers may come to recruit them.

Riley quickly got up, showered, dressed and headed toward Buffy's house. He was somewhat uncertain what Buffy was thinking about, since all this had begun. All he knew was that, with Angel here, anything could happen. As for this disagreement with Willow and Tara over Xander, he didn't understand it. In his view, Xander was the weakest member of the group. He couldn't fight to save his life and he was also pretty dumb in Riley's view. If not for Buffy, Riley believed Xander would be long dead and he could tell Buffy believed this, too.

Yet Willow and Tara had bluntly told them that Buffy and the rest of them would have died without Xander being a part of the team. He shook his head in confusion, as he knocked on Buffy's door. Why were they so protective of Xander, especially Tara? She hadn't known Xander for long and he really couldn't understand why anyone really liked him. He was annoying, in Riley's view.

Buffy opened the door and allowed her boyfriend to enter. She didn't bother to smile at him or even look at him, she was too angry at Xander, Willow, Tara and Giles, although there was a part of her that didn't know why she was mad at them, especially Xander.

"We have to get to the Magic Box as soon as possible, Riley," she told him, as she pulled on her leather jacket.

"Yeah, sure. I don't suppose I can convince you to let me call Graham and get his team over here to help?" Riley asked. "From what we know, we can use all the help we can get. Hell, this is shaping up into a war."

"Not yet. Call Graham and tell him we may need his help, but don't tell him to come just yet, okay?" Buffy responded.

"Fine," he said. He pulled out his mobile phone and began to punch in Graham's number, as they left the house.

+++

Just on the outskirts of Sunnydale, a man stood watching the horizon with interest. The people moved around with no knowledge of the war that was being fought. He smiled and shook his head in wonder. 'Why was it so hard for them to see the truth?' he thought, as he turned and allowed his wings to span and he took of into the sky.

+++

Xander spun into a wheel kick. Rachel quickly ducked and swept him of his feet with a kick of her own to the back of his right leg. He remained on the floor for a few moments until he finally got to his feet again and faced a grinning Rachel.

"Still not fast enough, Alex. You must learn to combine your speed and skill together and you must do it fast," she told him.

"I know, it's just not easy," he replied, as he readied himself to go again.

"Stop thinking like that! You must only think about succeeding," Rachel chided him.

"Yeah, yeah." He smiled.

"Okay, now listen; as I come in to attack, I want you to try and use you magical skill to attack. I know we haven't concentrated on that part much, but just try it, okay?" she instructed him.

Xander nodded and waited as Rachel got herself into position, as he waited, a stray vision of a woman entered his head and for a second he thought the woman looked like Tara. Suddenly he noticed Rachel come at him with a very fast kick. He jumped back and tried to focus his mind. As he did, a bright ball of light began to glow in front of him and he sent it toward Rachel.

She smiled and suddenly ducked and rolled back and immediately a red ball of light formed near her and she sent it toward the ball Xander had created. When they collided, a wind seemed to sweep through the room, knocking Xander off his feet.

"Ow," he grunted, as Rachel stood over him with a snide grin.

"What was that?" he asked.

"You created a ball of magic - formed it. However, mine was stronger as I have my knowledge and practice and it overwhelmed yours and because you were the sender, the destruction of your ball was as if I had hit you in the stomach," she told him, as she helped him up.

"So because I created the ball and it was beaten by yours, the impact was like a blow to the face, right?" he asked.

"Close enough, yes," she nodded, happy that he was beginning to gain some understanding.

As they talked, a shadow moved slowly in the darkened corner of the room. It watched the two working together and smiled. 'If the woman could teach the boy fast enough it was possible they may get a head start in the coming battle.' The being smiled again, knowing its own skill with magic was ten times as powerful as these two, but he couldn't intervene or help them prepare any faster, yet it wanted to. As it turned and began disappear, a stray beam of light caught the tip of its back, showing a gold-white wing, but neither Xander nor Rachel noticed as they prepared to continue their training session.

+++

Giles yawned as the door to his shop opened, revealing Buffy and Riley. Riley looked confused while Buffy seemed ready to explode. He shook his head, he still couldn't understand why Buffy was suddenly having arguments with her friends and it irritated him that he didn't understand it.

Angel watched from the counter and kept silent.

Giles noted he was avoiding looking at Buffy. He and his team had stayed at the Magic Box and took turns at keeping watch over Ethan, who was still tied to his chair, looking quite petrified every time Giles came near him. His outburst had shaken Giles badly. He had vowed never to let his 'Ripper' persona take control again and he had failed. He wondered if a time would come when he would lose total control. A shiver ran down his spine and he moved on to different things. The door opened again and Oz entered, followed by two very disturbed-looking witches. Tara was shaking badly and looked like she had been crying. Willow looked like she had received the worst news of her life and she also looked as if she had been crying.

"Willow? Tara? What's wrong?" Cordelia asked.

"Tara had a dream," Willow said, sinking into a chair as Tara stood near the window.

"Not-Not a dream, a vision," Tara corrected, still shaking.

"Of what?" Buffy demanded.

"Of Xander's death," Willow answered, breaking into tears again just as the door opened and Xander and Rachel came in. Xander froze as he heard Willow's answer and Rachel tensed. The whole room went deathly still.

Buffy heard the words echo in her mind as she stared at Willow, then Tara and finally Xander, who was still frozen to his spot near the door. The look on his face was totally unreadable. As for the woman next to him, Rachel, she looked scared stiff at the answer.

Buffy didn't like Rachel because she didn't know what Rachel's true intentions were. A part of her was afraid of the answer and she didn't want Xander to die. Yet another part of her didn't care one bit, and she didn't understand it.

"Xander?" Giles asked the young man, but Xander didn't respond and Giles couldn't blame him, not in the least. He was having a hard time accepting that Tara had had a true vision. Before he could speak again, Wesley beat him to it.

"I thought only Slayers got visions?" he said, sounding like his old self, the watcher he had been before teaming up with Angel.

"That's a load of nonsense," Doyle said. "A lot of people can have visions. Especially those involved in witchcraft," he added.

"The question is, is it a reliable vision?" Angel asked. "I mean if Xander was in danger, don't you think Cordy would have been given a vision from the Powers?" he added.

"I don't think she would, Angel," Whistler replied appearing next to Tara who didn't even flinch when she heard him.

"Why not?" Gunn asked. "Because Xander has nothing to do with the powers, neither does his ancestor nor his friends," Whistler answered.

"But Doyle got a vision when Buffy was in danger?" Angel said, off balance.

"Because the powers look out for her, she's different from most slayers, but the rest of her group has nothing to do with them. They have to do with Xander's ancestor and his fight," he replied.

"Why? What was so different about his fight than the one we fight for the powers and Buffy's?" Angel asked again.

"Well I'll answer that one when you get the kids inside and in a state ready to listen, I think they're a little too shocked right now," the demon told them smiling.

Totally forgetting the state Xander, Willow, Tara and Rachel were in, Giles, Angel and Wesley quickly began trying to move them to the table and sit down, where they could try to get their thoughts together again.  
7\. Chapter 7  
Chapter 7

Jill sat quietly at the student bar waiting for Tara and Willow to show. So far they hadn't turned up or phoned her and she was beginning to wonder where they were.

She noticed two of her friends, Nikki and her girlfriend Katy, walking toward her. She smiled as they sat down. She had told them she was meeting Tara and Willow and they had wanted to meet them as well. Each of them was interested in witchcraft and they knew Willow and Tara would be the best people to talk to about it. However, Jill had two other motives for wanting to get to know Willow and Tara. One, she was attracted to them both and two, because she needed to start getting them to remember their past lives.

She knew Rachel was here somewhere, most likely with Robert's descendant, Xander, and she wondered how far she had gotten. Rachel had told her to stay away, but she couldn't. She was a part of this as well. Rachel was her mother and Robert had been her father and she had only revealed that she too had been made immortal, on the day Xander had been born. She sighed and hoped the two witches would show soon.

+++

Xander stared at the wall for what must have been the tenth time and still his mind couldn't seem to come to terms with what Tara had seen in her vision, his death. He looked at the blonde witch for a few minutes and then turned away. She looked terrible and so did Willow. Buffy seemed ready to argue about something, but for now she was keeping quiet, Rachel disturbed him the most. She seemed totally shaken by Tara's vision and he wondered if his death would have a long-lasting affect which, in the end, would cause their defeat.

Giles was worried about Xander's continued silence. He could understand the boy being off balanced or upset at hearing he could be dead within a few days, but he needed their attention, so Whistler would continue with their information, information that might help them come up with a plan.

"Xander?" he said sitting in front of the boy.

Xander barley heard Giles speak. His mind was still too stunned to send coherent thoughts through it. He slowly met the stare of the older man.

"Xander, I need you to pull yourself together long enough for Whistler to tell us what he knows, okay?" he said as firm as he could, trying to get Xander to focus on the threat they faced and not his impending doom.

"I'll," Xander hesitated for a few seconds, until from somewhere deep inside him he found the reserve strength to focus. "I'll try Giles," he said nodding.

"Good. Tara? Willow? Can you try to concentrate as well, please?" he said to the two distraught girls who both nodded.

"Rachel?" he asked.

"Go ahead. I'm listening," she said.

Whistler watched all this with interest. He knew a lot more about the entire situation than they did, but he couldn't tell them everything, no matter how much he wanted to. He shook his head and stepped forward, as everyone turned to listen to him.

"There are many battles being fought against the darkness and not all of them are connected. Some were guided by the powers, some by the council of watchers and then there were others," he told them. "Some were people who found out about the war by accident and wanted to help, but then there were those who knew about it from a more powerful source," he added.

"What source?" Wesley asked.

"The higher power of course, but that's all I can say about it," he answered, "Robert and his lover were raised from birth to fight the darkness," he told them.

"His lover?" Xander questioned.

"Her name was Karan and she was best friends with the greatest seer known at the time. Her name was Sara Rosenberg." He ignored the stunned looks and continued. "Now Rachel most likely told you, that Robert worked for the powers and in a sense he did. However, his mission against the darkness was given to him by the higher power and they were his master, not the powers, and only he, Karan and the higher ups knew that."

"Did this Karan have any descendants? I mean I am Robert's descendant, Willow is Sara's and Buffy's is Jenna's?" Xander said, missing Buffy's angry glare when he mentioned her ancestor.

"Yes, Karan had a descendant," Whistler said.

"Who is it then?" Willow demanded.

"Me," Tara spoke before Whistler could reply and everyone turned to stare at her in total shock, especially Willow. The room was so quiet, that no one dared to move, except for the shadow in the corner where something watched them.

+++

The shadow quickly left the shop where the slayer and her friends were discussing their plans and headed toward the former Initiative caves, where three vampires waited. Each vampire had the same tattoo and green eyes and the metal claws that marked them as Valnon's followers.

"So what are they doing?" the tallest of the vampires commanded.

"They are learning about the past, they have not made any plans to fight us yet," the shadow replied.

"I would think that would be their first task," the smallest of the vampires said.

"From what we have learned from other vampires and demons that have either fought the slayer or had friends who have been killed by the slayer, she likes to get the background of the force she is fighting first," the third vampire added.

"Which gives her an edge sometimes, plus, she has the help of Angelus and William the Bloody," the first said in anger.

"And the rest of her friends, who have now turned out to be decadents of our master's greatest enemy," the second added.

"What do you want me to do?" the shadow asked.

"Return and watch them closely, Fal'car," the first commanded.

"As you command," the shadow answered and then turned and left the cave, not noticing the winged being watching him from above.

'I knew someone was watching them,' the being thought. 'I must warn them somehow, without exposing myself,' it decided, as it followed the shadow.

+++

Back at the magic shop, Willow was still reeling from the news that Tara's ancestor had been the lover of Xander's ancestor. The very notion of it made her feel sick, almost as much as the news that Xander might die. Xander noticed Buffy's glare and knowing they had better get this over with, stood and faced her and sighed as he spoke.

"You have something to say, Buffy?" he asked, bracing himself for her attack.

"You bet I have something to say. I wanna know why you didn't tell us, tell me, that you knew who our ancestors were, and their connection to all this," she seethed.

"I only found out a couple of hours ago. I was coming here to let you know and the first thing I heard was the fact of my impending doom. I know you didn't take the news well when you were gonna die, so why should I act any differently?" he answered back, trying to stay calm. As soon as he mentioned that, Buffy suddenly felt her anger boil over and stalked toward Xander with murder in her eyes, but she was intercepted by Spike and Gunn.

"Calm down, Slayer. We're all in this together," Spike told her.

"We need everyone here to even attempt to win," Gunn added.

"I'm afraid you're going to need more than this. I suggest you call your friend and his army team," Whistler told them. "Also, someone is going to have to bust Faith out of jail and bring her here as well," he added.

"Faith?" Willow asked hesitantly, momentarily forgetting about Tara's revelation.

"Yes, having two slayers in the fight will be very helpful," he said with a smile.

"But she's a murderer," Willow protested.

"No, she lost her way for a bit, but she's back on the right path now. She accepted that and allowed herself to be punished for her mistake. We can trust her," Angel said with confidence.

"I'll go," Xander told them.

"You'll need help and a van. I'll go with you. I know L.A anyway," Oz said with a smile.

"You better hurry and leave now. The sooner you get back, the better; but be careful," Whistler warmed them.

"No problem," Xander said as he headed for the door.

"Xander, practice what I've taught you so far, especially the mental aspects," Rachel told him.

"I will," he told her with a warm smile, as he stepped outside, followed by Oz.

"Well, you gonna call your friends? Or do you want to wait and get annihilated?" Whistler asked Riley.

"Oh, sorry. I'll call them now," Riley replied, pulling his cell phone from his pocket as Buffy entered the training room.

+++

"Two of the slayers friends have left the shop and have left town," a vampire reported to another. However, this vampire was different, he had the same green eyes and tattoo and the claws, but he also carried a big sword on his back, and on his chest was a metal plate which bore a tattoo of a demon, born in the blood of a slayer.

"Send Malick and seven others to follow them. Have them attack them just as they head back to Sunnydale," the huge vampire said.

"Yes, my lord," the vampire said bowing. As he left, a shadow appeared behind the vampire.

"Send Halnar and his demon assassins as well, they must not make it back to Sunnydale. Is that understood, Rizial?"

"Yes, M'lord," Rizial responded and left to carry out his orders, leaving the shadow to itself.

+++

The van raced toward L.A as fast as possible. Neither occupant noticed the black Ford with the black-painted windows following them. Oz had taken everything that happened in the last few days quite well. He had sensed he was needed and he had been right, but he could tell the others weren't handling it as easily as he was. He glanced over at Xander and noticed the dark frown on his face; he guessed he was still angry from his confrontation with Buffy.

"You okay, Xander?" he asked breaking the silence.

"Not really. These last few days have been really hectic; Tara has visions of my death, plus mine and her ancestors were lovers, which didn't please Willow, I could tell. Add this increasing problem with Buffy. I don't know what it is, but it's getting worse, and finally, I have to somehow accept the memories of my dead ancestor and use his skills to learn magic and fighting skills to save the world," Xander replied staring out the window.

"Guess it can't be easy learning all this in such a short amount of time," Oz mused.

"You should count yourself lucky you don't have some ancestor involved in all of this," Xander said.

"Yeah, guess so," Oz nodded.

"So how are we gonna bust Faith out of the jail?" Xander asked.

Oz just shrugged his shoulder and Xander could tell he was still thinking about how to get the rogue slayer out of her cell. He, too, had a couple of ideas, but he didn't know if they would work and then there was the problem of how Faith would react when they made their move. He leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes and began concentrating on what Rachel had begun teaching him.  
8\. Chapter 8  
Chapter 8

Giles noticed Ethan had finally come round from the beating he had received an hour ago from Gunn, thanks to Ethan's snide remarks. He could tell Gunn didn't have a lot of control over his temper. He noticed Ethan looked around and then breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed Gunn was not in the shop.

He walked over to his former friend and forced him to drink some water. He wasn't gonna take the risk of untying him. He then returned to the table to do some more research. He was had difficulties finding anything on Valnon or his followers. He could only guess at what sort of demons he had summoned to aid him in his fight.

Willow had taken Tara back to their dorm room, as she was still shaken by her vision and the information she had learned about her ancestor. Willow seemed confused, but her concern for Tara kept her from asking any questions. Buffy had gone into the training room just after Xander and Oz had left. She had locked the door so he guessed she wanted some privacy, which everyone respected.

"Any luck finding stuff on this demon, Giles?" Riley asked, breaking his chain of thought.

"I'm afraid not. The only thing I've found was a slight reference to his rising and how he commanded the biggest army of vampires and demons ever seen and that he was defeated by some great warrior and his own army. Sadly it doesn't say anything about the warrior," Giles replied, removing his glasses and rubbing his nose.

"That's not gonna help us very much," Riley said with a frown.

"No, it isn't, but we still have time to find things on him and his followers. When will your friends arrive?" Giles retorted.

"They're flying in from Mexico, so it will take them at least four to five hours max," Riley replied.

"Let's hope Xander and Oz don't run into any trouble," Giles said with a worried tone.

"Trouble always happens, especially in bad situations like this. You should have learned that by now, Giles," Spike said from his place near the stairs.

"He's right Ripper, worse things always happen when you are in a bad situation," Ethan said from across the room, where he was still tied to the chair.

"Can't we gag him?" Cordelia mumbled.

"Good idea; there's some rags behind the counter," Giles said glancing at Ethan and giving him a sly smile.

+++

The vampire called Rizial walked into one of the caves which was filled with vampires, who all stood up when he entered.

"I want five of you to head over to New York and try and locate the slayer's sister and her father. If you find them, grab them both and bring them back here. Do not harm either of them our lord wants them alive. Is that understood?" he commanded.

"Of course," said one of the vamps, as he headed to the exit, followed by four other vampires.

"I also want five of you to try and track down the former vengeance demon Anyanka. Last we heard she is with a fellow demon. Find them and bring them back as well, unharmed," he said again.

"Very well," said a rather small vampire who quickly left, followed by another four vampires.

"Why does our lord want us to find these people?" asked a very tall and very well built vampire, his long blond hair was tied back in a ponytail.

"He wants them as bait, to lure the slayer and her friends to their deaths," Rizial answered, then turned and left the cave.

+++

Oz pulled the van into the parking area of the prison where Faith was being held. Xander quickly got out and walked over to Oz's side.

"Just wait here, I'll be back shortly," he told his friend.

"You sure you want to visit her first?" Oz questioned him.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna try something Rachel mentioned during one of my training sessions," he said with a confident grin.

"What?" Oz inquired.

"I'm gonna try and disguise myself using my magic skills. Well, what skills I have so far," he explained.

"Just be careful," Oz said simply, as he turned on his radio. Xander nodded and began walking towards the entrance of the jail.

As he neared the entrance, he dove behind a nearby hedge and knelt so no one could see him. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate on what Rachel had told him. Slowly he pictured the face of one his former classmates and began to add certain differences to it. He then pushed everything he had learned so far into making the image appear around his own face. He felt the strain, as soon as he felt a small gush of air pass over him and he knew he didn't have long before the disguise failed. He stood and entered the prison and walked towards the front desk where a very tall guard stood watching him. His eyes were a deep green, but had a cold glint in them

"Hey," Xander said.

"What do you want here?" the guard asked.

"I'm here to visit a friend of mine, her name is Faith," Xander replied causally.

"I see, wait here a second," the guard grunted and walked towards the nearby office where two other guards and a man in a suit stood talking. Xander watched as the guard began talking to the man in the suit, who quickly looked towards him and then followed the guard to the front desk

"May I ask your business with this inmate?" the man in the suit asked.

"I just wanted to see how she was doing. She was close with my father, the former Mayor of Sunnydale," Xander replied.

"You mean Mayor Wilkins?" the man asked.

"Of course," Xander shot back.

"Very well, this guard will show you to her cell. You have twenty minutes Mr. Wilkins and you only have that because the Mayor left instructions in all prisons in Sunnydale and LA that if this girl was to be arrested he would send someone to see her and I respected the Mayor," the man told him sternly.

"Thank you," Xander said, the strain to hold the disguise was growing as he followed the guard through the prison and to a special part of the prison where the guard opened a cell and gestured for him to enter, which he did.

"If you need anything or she tries anything, just shout, okay?" the guard said, before he closed the door and then walked away.

Xander looked to where Faith sat on the bunk in the corner of the room, she still had her long black hair and piercing brown eyes, to Xander she still seemed beautiful and deadly.

"Who the heck are you?" she asked, standing up and approached him.

"As hard as it may be for you to accept, it's me, Xander," he replied and he smiled at her confused look.

"I don't think so, you don't look anything like the guy," she sneered.

"Yeah, well just watch," he told her as he dropped the disguise and almost burst out laughing at her stunned look.

"Good to see you again, Faith," he said.

"What do you want, Harris?" she asked a bit wary.

"I'm here to bust you out, Faith," he told her plainly.

"Yeah right. You are here to play games Harris, did B send you?" she said angrily.

"I'm not playing, Faith and at the moment, Buffy and I are not on the best of terms," he replied.

"So why are you doing this, if I believe you that is?" she questioned.

"We need your help. There is something very bad coming and if it succeeds, we are all dead," he told her.

"So B sent you here to get me, because she can't handle it?" Faith smirked.

"No, Buffy had nothing to do with it. Now, do you want out or not?" he replied, his impenitence beginning to surface.

"Fine, I guess helping you is better than staying here for a few more years," she agreed. "One question, how are we getting out of here?" she inquired.

"Like this," he said holding out his hand toward the wall he knew faced the street and formed a large sized ball of magic. Faith quickly stood back, a little surprised as the ball struck the wall and blew a huge hall in it without causing any noise.

"Let's go now," Xander said, as he looked back at the door. Faith nodded and quickly ran towards the hole and then jumped down onto a dustbin which stood below and then waited until Xander was next to her.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Follow me. We have to get to the parking lot without being seen," he said. He grabbed her hand before she could protest and lead her down the alley. Luckily, he noticed the alley came out right next to the parking area. He soon noticed Oz's van was moving towards them. The van quickly stopped and, just as Xander pulled open the door, they heard the alarms go off inside the prison.

"Let's go now," Oz said, as Faith and Xander jumped in. Oz quickly floored it just as ten guards came running out of the prison.

"That was tense," Xander said, as he looked into the rear view mirror.

"That was fun," Faith said and smiled as the van headed back to Sunnydale.

+++

Buffy spun around when she heard someone knock on the door of the training room. She had been sitting there peacefully for the last few hours and was trying to get her thoughts together and process everything she had learned. She had been so angry when Xander hadn't told her of her ancestor straight away, yet she understood why he hadn't, and yet still a part of her remained angry.

"Who is it?" she shouted.

"It's just me," came Giles' voice.

Buffy stood up and went to the door. She slowly opened it and peered at Giles.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I just wanted to see if you needed anything to eat or drink?" he said gently and Buffy felt herself relax a bit.

"I could do with a drink if you don't mind," she said with a small smile.

"Very well, I'll be back shortly," he said and returned the smile, as he turned and walked towards the table, where he kept his kettle.

Buffy slowly closed the door again, but left it unlocked this time.  
9\. Chapter 9  
Chapter 9

Tara watched Willow from her bed, as her girlfriend sat at her desk writing something. Ever since they had gotten back, Willow had tactfully avoided speaking with her. She knew when she revealed to Willow that her ancestor had been the lover of Xander's ancestor it would cause a lot of confusion and maybe a little pain, but she hadn't expected her to ignore her totally.

She shook her head and leaned back into the pillar, trying to push the images of Xander's death away. Suddenly a flash of light seemed to blind her for a few seconds and then she saw Oz's van being struck by a blast of blue fire. She saw Xander, Oz and Faith fighting off a number of vampires and demons and then she saw Faith and Oz get knocked unconscious and Xander standing alone. She watched as a blood-soaked Xander killed the remaining vamps, but then he was knocked into the van by a purple ball of magic and a knife was being stuck into his side as he got back up.

She almost screamed when Xander fell again, after being struck on the back of the neck, but just managed to stifle it, as Xander shot out three balls of red fire which consumed three of the demons, but then in total horror she watched as Xander took the full blunt of the last demon's magical attack. It sent him flying over the van and into a nearby tree, where he fell unconscious and was bleeding from many wounds. Finally, the vision ended and she couldn't stop herself screaming and crying.

Willow ran to her in an instant, very worried at Tara's outburst. "What is it Tara?" she asked.

"X-Xander he, Oz and Faith are gonna be attacked on their way back. He's gonna get killed saving the others," she said, barley keeping her voice steady enough to make sense.

"I gotta call Giles," Willow said, rushing to the phone and dialing the magic shop. The phone rang a few times before Giles finally picked up.

"Hello," she heard Giles say.

"Giles, it's Willow," she said, trying not to rush her words.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Tara had another vision. Xander and the others are gonna be attacked on their way back. She says he's gonna die saving the others," she told him.

"I understand," he said, putting the phone down.

Willow did the same and as she looked up again she saw that Tara was still crying, but she seemed to be trying to do something with her skills. Willow walked over and knelt in front of her.

"What are you doing Tara?" she asked quietly.

"I know you don't wanna hear this, but I think Xander and I have a connection. That's how I knew he was in danger at the park, he contacted me. He sent me a message," she told her.

"So," Willow said, trying to keep any anger or unease out of her voice, "you're trying to send a message to him?" she managed to finish.

"Yes, I'm trying to warn him," she whispered, as she began to feel an odd tingling on the back off her neck she felt a presence inside her head, one she recognized instantly as Xander.

Xander had his eyes closed, as he was trying to forget the strain he had undergone while using his new skills to hide himself, when he began to feel something at the edge of his consciousness. Suddenly he saw an image of Tara and then he heard her whisper something to him and, by the look of her, he could tell it wasn't something good. His eyes shot open as he realized what it was she was saying, but before he could shout out a warning, the van was struck by something which would have knocked it off its wheels, had Oz not managed to swerve it to the right. Another shot knocked the van right off the road.

+++

Giles quickly walked into the training area, knowing the door would be unlocked. Buffy stood up quickly as she noticed his dark gaze.

"What's wrong Giles?" she asked.

"Willow just rang. It would seem Tara has had another disturbing vision," he replied.

"About what?" she inquired a little uneasy.

"She saw Xander, Oz and Faith getting attacked on their way back from LA and Xander dying saving the others," he said, trying to stay focused and not to think too much on the fate of his friends.

"Does she know exactly where they will be attacked?" Buffy asked.

"Not from what Willow told me," he answered.

"Then there is nothing we can do," Buffy said with no trace of emotion.

"What?" Giles said stunned by her response.

"We can't spare anyone to go looking for them and since we have no idea where they are or what road they took it's not worth trying," she explained.

"But Buffy, Xander is vital to this darkness we face. We cannot afford to leave him to die, or the others. We need as many people as we can to survive."

"We've survived many battles with few people, Giles. I think we can get through this as well," she said and then walked away, not noticing Giles disapproving glare.

+++

Xander slowly came to and looked around to see it was now dark outside. Oz just opened his eyes and Faith was sitting up and looked around with a wild look in her eyes, which he remembered well.

"What happened?" Oz groaned.

"Some type of magic bolt, I think. Tara tried to send me a warning, but it was too late," Xander replied, as a cold shiver ran down his spine, alerting him to the presence of vampires and demons.

"Looks like they're still out there, waiting for us to come out," he added.

"How do you know that? Last time we met, you didn't have any special senses?" Faith asked confused.

"Last time we met, I didn't know how to use magic either. You should be sensing them as well," Xander retorted.

"I am and there are a few of them," she replied with a grim smile.

"So now what?" Oz asked.

"Giles knows we are in trouble, but I doubt help will be coming," Xander said.

"Why not?" Faith growled.

"Because first, they don't know where we are and, for some reason, I sense Buffy, in her present state of mind, won't bother sending anyone to our aid, thinking it to risky," he explained.

"So, it's up to us. Luckily there are a few stakes in the back, and two swords," Oz told them.

"Right. Faith, take one of the swords and two stakes. Oz, you take the other sword and the remaining stakes and stay near the van, maybe we can minimize how many attack," Xander told them.

"I take it you plan on using your magic?" Faith inquired, as she passed Oz three stakes and a sword. She then reached back and took the second sword and put the remaining two stakes in her jacket pocket.

"Yeah, it might put them of balance for a bit. Let's go," he said, as he kicked the broken window so they could exit the van. As soon as all three stood outside, ten vamps and five demons appeared from behind the van and moved towards them.

Xander raised his hand, summoned the largest ball of magic he could, waited for the first three vamps to come closer and then he sent it straight for them. It engulfed two of them, turning them into fire balls. The third was consumed by the fire of its fellow vamps, as they fell on him. Faith managed to cut the head of the vamp behind them, as it jumped away from its burning comrades.

The others vampires stopped approaching and waited until the five demons came forward and began to raise their own hands, where a black fire began to grow. Xander knew what would happen and pushed Faith and Oz away and just managed to raise a defensive shield as the black fire came hurtling towards him. However, the blow sent him flying into a nearby tree and he slumped to his knees, bleeding from the back of his head. He managed to push himself to his feet and prepared to fight on as Faith and Oz came to stand beside him.

Tara awoke and sensed a pain that was not hers and she suddenly realized the pain was coming from Xander. Their connection seemed to be getting stronger and she began to worry how Willow would react when she found out. She sat up and closed her eyes and tried to focus on a memory of Xander, but she found she couldn't because of the pain. She shook her head and got up when she noticed that Willow was sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by candles and she seemed to be in a trance. This startled her and she quickly wondered what type of spell Willow was casting. She moved closer and studied Willow's face, just as Willow's eyes snapped open to stare at her.

"You're awake," she said.

"What are, you doing?" Tara asked.

"Nothing important," Willow said, trying to deflect Tara's question as she stood up.

"How long have I been asleep?" Tara asked.

"At least half an hour, why?" Willow asked stretching.

"Have Xander and the others returned yet?" Tara asked. She got a little nervous when Willow frowned.

"No, and Giles phoned and said Buffy wouldn't sent anyone to help them defend themselves if your vision was right," Willow told her.

Tara's eyes narrowed in anger.

"She is going to leave him to die, as well as Oz and Faith and all you can do is sit here? He is your friend," Tara said.

"I tried a locator spell just after Giles phoned and I couldn't find them. Something is using dark magic to stop us from seeing them," Willow said getting angry herself.

"I'm going to see Buffy," Tara said, opened the door and walked through it.

Willow quickly followed her.  
10\. Chapter 10  
Chapter 10

Xander pushed himself back to his feet, nearly falling to his knees again. The demons' magic was stronger than his magic, but so far he was holding on and he had managed to kill two of the five demons with Faith's help.

He had distracted the demon with a few magic bolts, allowing Faith to sneak up behind the demon and decapitate it. Oz was holding off the three remaining vampires, although they were stronger than most vamps they had encountered and had certain abilities like becoming invisible for a short period of time.

Faith seemed to be able to see through their tricks and also managed to beat them, staying ahead of their metal claws. Oz was using his newly controlled Werewolf powers to fight off the vamps, although he had been cut a few times, especially in the chest. Faith had only been cut on one of her arms, thanks to one of the demons. Xander however, had deep cuts in one of his legs and shoulder and he was also suffering from the effects of the demons' spells. He noticed one of the demons moving in toward Oz, who was busy staking another of the vamps.

He raised his hand and dug deep into his memories to find a spell Robert had used to kill demons in one strike. Rachel had mentioned it during their walk through the park. However, she had warned him, it drained Robert a lot. Finally he found the spell and began chanting fast. The demon towered over Oz, who was just turning around. His eyes went wide when Faith dropped kicked it in the back. It spun around raising its clawed hand when a burst of blue and black light engulfed it. It roared in pain as it began to burn. Faith quickly raised her sword and removed the creature's head with a clean strike. She turned to see Xander back on his knees, barely conscious. She beckoned Oz to follow her and they both rushed to his side.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Not really, that spell drains the user of their energy. I may be unconscious by the end of this," he said, attempting a smile.

"Oz, you stay close to him just in case," Faith said, as she turned and ran back toward the two remaining vamps. Swinging her sword in a wide arc, she decapitated both before either could react.

Oz helped Xander back to his feet as the two demons that were still alive, moved towards them. Both demons raised their hands and shot out three black spheres at them. Xander pushed Oz behind him and raised his hand, creating a weak shield which deflected two of the spheres, but the third punched through and hit him in the chest. He cried out in pain, as he fell to his knees and just as he lost himself to the darkness, he fired of one last spell which set the two demons alight. Faith used their pain against them, taking the legs off one and then driving her sword through its heart. She ducked the blind swipe of the last demon. Jumping high, she imbedded the sword into the demon's neck, it cried out as it fell. Faith rushed over to Oz and the motionless Xander.

"Will he be okay?" she asked, as Oz checked his pulse.

"Maybe, we have to get back to Sunnydale quickly. Luckily the van landed back on its wheels. Come on, help me put him in the back," Oz replied, taking hold of Xander's legs. Faith grabbed his arms and they quickly put him in the back of the van. Faith climbed in as well, slamming the doors shut. Oz quickly got in the front and started the van, saying a silent prayer when it worked. He turned the van around and continued their journey back to Sunnydale.

+++

Tara stormed into the magic shop, followed closely by a very worried Willow. She ignored Giles and the others and went straight to Buffy. The slayer seemed a little surprised by the angry look on Tara's face.

"Why didn't you send anyone to help them?" Tara all but demanded to know.

"Because we didn't know where they were, so I didn't think it was worth the trouble," Buffy replied calmly.

"We can't survive without them. If they die, especially Xander, you have doomed us all," Tara hissed. She then turned and entered the training room and locked the door behind her.

"Why is she so upset, she doesn't know Xander that well?" Buffy asked.

"They have a connection now and her ancestors memories will make it stronger as well," Rachel answered.

"So she'll care more for him as well?" Willow asked sadly.

Rachel just nodded and sat back at the table, trying to ignore Willow's gaze as she moved to the counter.

+++

Riley watched, as the helicopter bringing his friend Graham and his team back to Sunnydale touched down in the clearing in the middle of the woods. He smiled as his friend jumped out and ran toward him.

"Hey Riley," he said shaking his hand.

"Glad you could make it, Graham," Riley replied as the rest of the team disembarked and ran over to them.

"Agent Finn, good to see you again," Major Johnson said, he had been angered that Riley had turned down his offer to join them.

"Sir," Riley replied shaking his hand. He remembered Giles' warning not to mention anything about Angel or Spike being vamps, or anything about the prophecy.

"So what's the situation?" Graham asked.

"We are faced with a large army of demons and vamps, however these vamps are different they can make themselves invisible for short periods of time and have metal claws attached to their hands. Also, they may be led by a very powerful vamp which is called an 'old one'," Riley informed them.

"An old one? What's so different about it than normal vamps?" Johnson asked.

"I don't know much about it, sir," he answered, as he led them to the magic shop. He had told them to come in normal clothing and to keep their weapons hidden and he was thankful they had listened to him.

+++

Oz finally pulled the van over just in front of the magic shop. He quickly turned the engine of and turned to Faith.

"Just wait here a few minutes, okay?" he told her. She nodded and then he jumped out of the van and ran into the shop. Faith looked down at Xander's still form and sighed, running her hand through his hair.

"Just hang on, Xand," she whispered. The back doors suddenly opened to reveal Giles, Wesley and Angel. Angel climbed into the van and slowly, with Faith's assistance, pushed Xander toward Giles and Wesley who grabbed his legs and waited until Faith and Angel had his upper half and then they carried him into the magic shop, not noticing Jill watching from behind a tree. They placed him on the table as Rachel walked over to him and checked his pulse and she was relieved to find it steady.

"He's alive," she told them.

"When will he wake up?" Faith asked, ignoring Willow's watchful glare.

"He's in a deep sleep and his wounds are very severe. His unconscious mind had placed him into this state to keep him alive. He won't wake until his injuries, both physical and magical, have healed," she answered.

"How long?" Angel asked.

"I don't know," she replied and sat down at the table and then took one of Xander's hands in hers.

The door to the training room suddenly opened and Tara quickly entered the room and noticed Xander lying on the table. She slowly approached and took his other hand and closed her eyes, trying to make some kind of contact, but all she could sense was darkness.

"Do you feel anything?" Willow asked.

"Nothing but darkness," Tara answered and opened her eyes to look at her girlfriend.

"This is not going to help us. We can't afford to have Xander out cold for too long a period of time," Wesley said.

"I agree. Is there anything we can do to speed up his healing process?" Giles asked.

"I don't know, maybe," Rachel said, facing the two former watchers. "I suggest we look through your oldest books," she suggested.

"Very well, Cordelia, Gunn, we could use your help," Giles said.

Cordelia and Gunn both groaned, but walked to the bookshelf anyway.

The shadow watched in interest and almost smiled. The fact that they had returned was not good news, but the fact that one of them was out cold and the fact that it was an important member of the group, made it even better. It turned and left the shop, just as Riley and his friends entered. It headed toward the caves, knowing its master would be pleased to hear this news. It didn't notice the winged being following it at a distance.

+++

Faith noticed Buffy and Willow were watching every of her moves and it was really beginning to annoy her. She remembered what Xander had told her, that they weren't getting on too well, and now she could tell why. Buffy was being irrational and annoying. Faith wondered why Buffy was being this way, she had always been the good slayer and now Buffy was acting like her. She couldn't blame Willow too much. Watching her, it was obvious that the young redheaded witch still didn't trust her. Guess she would have to work on that. She wondered who the attractive woman was who refused to leave Xander's side. She walked towards Angel and his group.

"Hey Faith," Angel greeted her.

"What's the story?" she asked.

"So far we only have bits and pieces, but here's what we know so far," he then proceeded to tell her all they knew. When he had finished, Faith knew why they all looked grim and on edge. She was pretty unnerved by the arrival of Riley's commando friends, who were busy being filled in by Giles and Wesley.

+++

The winged being knew it couldn't afford to allow the shadow to return to its master and tell it about the sorcerer's condition. It knew it might face serious consequences when it returned home, but it had to take action. Just as the shadow turned into the woods, the being raised its hand and shot forth a bolt of green energy which sent the shadow flying into a tree. The being landed and pulled a small sword from its back and approached the shadow, as it got up and turned to face him.

"You can't interfere," the shadow raged.

"You interfered first. You broke the pact and now you must pay," the being shot back and before the shadow could even move, the being brought its sword down and split the shadow in two. He shook his head and replaced his sword. As it turned to leave, a voice came out of nowhere.

"Urial," the voice whispered.

The being was surprised to hear the voice call his name, then it smiled and turned and headed back to the sky, knowing why he was been called.

+++

Tara closed her eyes and tried to find some semblance of sleep, but as soon as her eyes were closed tight enough, an image of Xander and her kissing entered her head, then followed one of him lying in her arms as he died. Her eyes snapped open and she rushed outside, not hearing Willow calling her name. She leaned against a nearby tree and tried to concentrate on her breathing. She looked up to see Jill approaching her with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you okay, Tara?" Jill asked.

"I don't know," Tara answered, glancing back at the Magic Box where Xander still lay unconscious.

"Do you want to get a coffee or something?" Jill asked and placed her hand on Tara's arm. Tara nodded and allowed Jill to lead her to the nearby coffee shop, again not noticing Willow watching her from the door with a small frown tugging at her face.

+++

Xander seemed to be floating in his mind, surrounded by nothing but darkness, except for a small light just ahead of him that seemed to be urging him to it, but he couldn't move. All he felt was intense pain. He also could hear whispers all around him, but he couldn't seem to concentrate long enough to hear them properly.

+++

Tara looked at Jill's concerned gaze as she sat back down with two hot coffees. She was still trying to clear her mind of the mental image of her kissing Xander and then having him die in her arms. She noticed Jill studying her and she quickly looked away and down towards the magic shop. She wondered what the others were doing, especially her girlfriend.

"What happened, Tara?" Jill asked, breaking her train of thought.

"N-nothing," she answered, her stutter returning.

Jill continued to study her carefully and wondered how much she had remembered. Had Rachel shown up yet and had she began teaching them? As she watched, Tara's eyes closed and her head fell onto her arms. Jill sat and watched, unable to decide what to do.

Tara suddenly saw a flash of images of people she didn't recognize and events she didn't understand. Then the images began to slow and she started to sense a familiar presence. As she watched, a tall man with a short beard and long hair appeared, along with a woman who looked very much like her, except that the color of her hair was black.

They seemed to be talking very heatedly about something. A flash of silver caught her eye and she turned to find a girl watching this from behind a pillar. Tara stared harder at the girl. She was shocked to find the girl was a much younger Jill. The shock seemed to shake the images into a faster pace until she found herself watching the man perform some sort of spell on the younger version of Jill and then proceed to tell her something important. Jill nodded and then walked away. The last image she saw was Rachel crying as the man told her something. Her eyes snapped open and she stared at Jill, who suddenly seemed nervous and kept glancing away.

"Who are you Jill?" she asked.

Jill was a little surprised by Tara's question and she suddenly realized Tara was somehow having visions. She wondered why Willow wasn't the one who was having them, as it was her ancestor who was the seer. Something was wrong or something had changed, she couldn't tell which.

"Who are you? What is your link to all this?" Tara asked her again, this time more forcefully.

"It's hard to explain, Tara, but you must believe me that I am on your side," Jill finally answered, believing now was the time she entered this fight.

"You have to tell me, I need to know," Tara said and grabbed her hand.

"Okay, I had the same spell put on me as Rachel did an immortality spell. I was born during the beginning of this prophecy you are now involved in," she told Tara. "My mother is Rachel Wells, the woman who is now helping you. My father needed someone with the knowledge of the entire fight and prophecy so that they could help their descendants when the time was right. My mother accepted the responsibility, because she loved my father," she added.

"Why did he do the same to you then?" Tara asked.

"I forced him to. I begged him to let me help as well and so, in the end, he agreed, just in case something happened to Rachel. He knew nothing was certain and so he gave me the same knowledge as he gave my mother. He then sent me to somewhere safe where I remained until the day of Xander's birth. I revealed myself to my mother who had not known about me. She was upset by what my father had done and she told me to stay out of this, but I refused. I was going to help you and Willow with your magic, but things didn't go as planned, as you've been too busy with finding out about all this," Jill answered.

"Who is your father? That's the only thing I don't know," Tara asked after a few minutes.

"That's a little hard to explain as well, my father was Robert Harris," Jill answered

"How is that possible?" Tara asked in complete shock "I thought he was in love with my ancestor Karan?" she asked again.

"Robert met Rachel before Karan, he knew one day he would meet someone else and he told my mother this. She accepted this, but still they got very close and I was the result. I was only three years old when Karan and Robert first met and Rachel didn't make a fuss of trying to keep him, but she stayed anyway, to help them fight," Jill answered, her voice unsteady as she tried to control her emotions.

"Did Karan knew that Robert was your father?" Tara asked in sympathy.

"Yes, she knew all about it. In fact, Willow's ancestor, Sara, told her. Rachel was surprised Karan didn't hold any grievances. She and I even became friends. She was like my aunt in a way," Jill replied.

Tara nodded and finally stood up. "I need you to come with me and tell the others. This is important, Jill, and you may be able to help us revive Xander," she told her.

"Xander's in some sort of trouble?" Jill asked, concerned.

"I'm afraid so," Tara nodded.

Jill allowed Tara to lead her to the magic shop. Although she wasn't looking forward to an argument with her mother, she knew she had to help them now. Everything rested on it, including Xander's survival.

+++

Xander's mind suddenly began to become alert and the light just in front of him became bigger. The whispers became stronger and he recognized one as Rachel's and the other as Faith's. A few stray images passed him, including one of a shadow standing over a sleeping Buffy. It seemed to be casting some sort of spell. He heard Buffy moan and her eyes snapped open and flashed red and then closed again as the shadow smiled and told her something. His mind reeled as it struggled to wake his body.  
11\. Chapter 11  
Chapter 11

Rachel stood in shock, as she saw her daughter enter with Tara. She had not expected to see Jill again until after all this was sorted. Jill seemed nervous and Tara seemed a little off balance, as she looked at Xander's still form.

"Who's this Tara?" Buffy asked, breaking Rachel's train of thought.

"My name is Jill Wells Harris," Jill replied, before Rachel could speak up.

"Harris?" Giles asked confused.

"Yes, my father was Robert Harris," she confirmed.

"How, how is that possible?" Willow asked.

"He placed an immortality spell on me, like he did on my mother," Jill answered again, before Rachel could say anything.

"But that would mean Rachel," Gunn started.

"Is my mother, that is correct," Jill finished.

"This is getting more confusing and serious," Cordelia muttered.

Jill looked around the room and took in the looks of the people gathered in the room. Some were looks of confusion, others looks of concern. She noticed the slayer's boyfriend in the doorway to the next room. He looked interested in what was being said. She also noticed he kept looking back into the other room. She guessed there were people in there who didn't know all the details.

"So, if Robert was your father and Rachel your mother, what does that make Xander to you?" Spike asked.

Jill looked towards the table where Xander's motionless body lay and she felt a shiver run down her spine. He did resemble her father in quite a few ways, especially his dark hair.

"I guess that makes us cousins, in some weird way," Jill answered, as she walked towards the table and placed her hand on Xander's forehead. "His mind is strong and it's fighting to wake up," she told the others.

"Are you a witch?" Angel asked.

"Duh," Doyle said beside him, ignoring Angel's glare while Cordelia giggled.

"Can you help to wake him?" Willow asked.

"I might be able to. I will need some things though," Jill replied and then proceeded to give Giles a list of the items she needed. Rachel grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the shop, while Giles and Wesley looked for the items.

Rachel pulled her out of the door and looked at her daughter's face and noticed that her daughter had gotten over her nervousness and she seemed ready to argue with her, she sighed.

"I told you to stay out of this," Rachel said sternly once the door closed.

"I know, but I couldn't. I need to help," Jill argued. "Father agreed that it was necessary," she added.

"Robert was persuaded by your arguments and I may agree with some of them, but I did not want you involved. I didn't want your fate bound by my choice to help Robert and Karan," Rachel told her.

"It was my decision mother, I wanted to help as well," Jill countered.

"Only after you found out," Rachel said.

"Which I never would have done if I hadn't overheard father and Karan arguing," Jill told her. "At least then I understood father's wariness and the fact that he kept disappearing along with Karan and Jenna," she added.

"Still, I never wanted you involved. I wanted you to have your own life and a family," Rachel told her earnestly.

"And maybe once we deal with this and finally bring father's prophecy to a close, I can do that and maybe you can too," Jill shot back. "Father made sure that once the prophecy was ended the immortality spell would be broken on us both," she told her.

"I didn't know that," Rachel said.

"I know, father told me. He said he wanted it to be a surprise for you," Jill nodded.

"I see," Rachel said in confusion, her emotions were mixed up. "Well, you're here now, so I guess I can't stop you from helping," Rachel finally conceded.

Jill smiled and followed her mother back into the store. She took a seat next to Cordelia and began to meditate in preparation for the spell she was going to cast.

+++

Buffy had been thinking about everything Rachel and Jill had told them so far and the same question kept running through her head and that was who had managed to continue the family line to which Xander belonged to, if Robert and Jill's lives had been consumed by the fight.

A second question was also running just at the back of her mind and that was why she didn't seem to care too much about Xander's predicament? She knew if Willow or Tara found out, she would be in some serious trouble.

She finally decided to ask Rachel the question that was annoying her the most, so she could get some decent information. She looked around and noted she was standing alone near the window, ignoring the presence of the sleeping chaos mage who was still tied to the chair, being watched by Gunn, who seemed always on edge. She walked over and waited until the woman acknowledged her presence.

"Can I help you Buffy?" she asked.

Buffy could tell Rachel held some sort of resentment to her and she wondered if Rachel knew about her growing dislike of Xander.

"I wanna know how Xander's family line continued, if both Robert and Jill were too busy fighting. I mean, from what you told us, Jill is Robert's only child and Jill doesn't seem to have had any, so how can Xander's family have continued?" she asked Rachel.

"Robert had a brother and sister. They didn't talk much, especially once Robert began to fight the darkness. They stopped talking just after he met me, but Robert kept a close eye on them just in case something happened and he knew both his sister and brother had children," she answered calmly.

"I see, so what Jill said was true. They are cousins, because she is Robert's child and Xander is from Robert's brother's or sister's line," Buffy reasoned.

"Yes, he is from Robert's sister's side," Rachel clarified.

Buffy nodded satisfied with the answer and went back to her seat on the counter. She noticed Jill was still meditating. Willow was staring out the window and Buffy guessed she was getting more freaked out about the growing connection between Tara and Xander. Riley was inside the training room with the commando's. Giles and Wesley were collecting the final items Jill needed for her spell and Cordelia was talking with Doyle and Angel. Spike had gone out to get some blood for him and Angel and Tara seemed to be falling asleep next to Faith, who was reading one of Giles' books. She shot concerned looks at Xander every once in a while. Buffy shook her head, wondering about her ancestor Jenna, and what she had been like.

Tara tried to keep herself awake, but it was getting more and more difficult and finally she gave in and allowed sleep to claim her. Once her eyes had closed, her mind seemed to drift and she soon found herself in a dark room, except for a ray of light which seemed to shine towards the back of the room where she saw Xander sitting, with his legs crossed. He was watching her with an intense gaze, which caused her to blush. She walked over to where he was and sat in front of him. He didn't move, instead he just seem to stare at her even more.

"Xander, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"This place is peaceful and I like it here," Xander replied.

"You can't stay here, we need you," she told him.

"I've tried. Something is holding me here. I need your help, Tara," he replied.

"I know, a friend is coming for you soon, just hang on," she told him.

As the light began to fade and she felt herself being tugged back towards the real realm.

Xander quickly leaned forward and kissed her in a soft passionate kiss. Tara didn't even try to fight it and gave herself up to it, finally Xander and the room vanished and Tara's eyes snapped open. She looked to where Xander lay and she wondered if it had been a dream or real, until she felt the pressure of Xander's lips on hers and she fought to stop herself from blushing.

Xander's mind began to gain strength from the dream, for his mind could only see it as such. He had no way of knowing it had been real. As his mind continued to gain strength, images began to pass through his mind, showing him many events.

The first image showed a man, who looked similar to him, holding a small child in his hands and next to him was a woman who looked just like Rachel. The next showed him the man running toward a girl with short brownish hair holding a stake, as three very nasty looking vampires ran towards her. The third image showed him the man meeting a woman who resembled Tara a bit and he instantly knew this was Karan. They looked at each other with intense stares until finally they kissed.

Jill finally stood and walked to where Xander lay on the table. Taking her mother's place, she sat down and waited until Giles and Wesley had placed all the items she had asked for on the table in front of her. She took a deep breath and began mixing certain amounts.

"I need total silence, this spell is very dangerous. My father told me that he once used it and it almost killed him when someone came running into the castle shouting," she told everyone.

"Oh great, the joys of silence," Buffy muttered, before storming out of the shop.

"What is her problem?" Faith asked.

"We don't know. She's been acting like that for the past couple of weeks," Giles sighed, as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Maybe someone should talk to her?" Faith said looking at Angel.

The ensouled vampire nodded and left searching for Buffy.

"Okay, now please, everyone be quiet," Jill spoke up.

Tara moved and sat down next to Jill, not daring to look at Willow, who was frowning. Jill's eyes closed slowly as she began chanting something. No one dared to make a sound.

Giles just hoped Riley and the commando's wouldn't suddenly walk in from the training room shouting something. As Jill chanted, a golden light began to appear just over Xander's prone form.

Tara closed her own eyes and began chanting herself, careful as to keep her voice very low so as not to distract Jill. The light began to grow brighter, as a white glow began to envelope both Jill and Tara, the others stood back, watching in silent amazement.

Xander's body began to slowly lift off the table and started floating a few feet over it.  
12\. Chapter 12  
Chapter 12

Xander saw the light coming closer. At first, he was afraid and tried to recoil from it, but then he sensed a familiar presence. It was Tara and she was coming for him. He sensed another presence and he remembered what Tara had told him about someone coming for him, a friend. He relaxed and waited until the light seemed all around him. Suddenly Tara and another girl were in front of him and both were smiling.

"Xander, this is Jill," Tara told him.

Xander looked at the girl and for some reason he couldn't explain, he felt connected to her and he hugged her, she didn't seem to be surprised.

"Listen Xander, we're here to bring you back, but we're gonna need your help though," Jill explained.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked as he pulled back.

"I need you to concentrate on the real world and the fight," Jill told him.

Xander nodded and did as he was instructed. Tara looked at Jill who was now studying her lost cousin. She then looked at Tara and whispered the chant they needed to bring him back with them. She nodded and closed her eyes and began chanting just as Jill started her own chant. The golden glow turned into a reddish white glow.

Giles watched fascinated by the skill Jill seemed to command. She was a very powerful witch to be able to do such a spell. She seemed more powerful than either Willow or Tara. He would have to have a talk with her, once the spell was completed.

Willow watched the three motionless bodies with total concentration, not daring to look away in case something happened. She wanted her friend back, but she was afraid of the developing connection between him and her girlfriend. She didn't understand why all this was happening now. As the light began to fade and the eyes of Jill and Tara began to open, Willow let out a loud cry as a pain over ran her. She fell to her knees, as she saw thousand of images. The pain increased, as the images went faster and faster.

Giles and Cordelia knelt next to her and tried to keep her cries to a minimum, as they could tell Jill and Tara hadn't finished yet. Giles cursed under his breath as Willow's cries of pain continued to grow. Finally Doyle stepped forward and placed his hand on her head and whispered three words. Willow suddenly fell into unconsciousness. Giles turned to see if Willow's cries had disrupted the spell and he could tell by the looks of pain on Jill and Tara's faces that something was wrong.

The scream pierced the concentration of both Tara and Jill, just as they were opening their eyes. They heard a physic scream join that of Willow's and they knew Xander was in trouble.

Finally Willow's scream stopped, but the damage was done. Xander was stuck now, somewhere between the real realm and the dream realm. Tara tried to focus again, but for some reason she couldn't get back the connection. She knew if they failed to bring him back then he would be trapped there forever. That was another reason why this spell was so dangerous, Jill somehow managed to hold her own concentration, but the spell had been weakened by Tara's loss. She could feel Xander's pain, as he was torn between two realms. They had to reestablish the full link, before they could complete the spell.

+++

Riley walked next to Graham as they patrolled the woods. They had all decided to go for a quick look around, because everyone else was busy with other things. They hadn't told anyone either. Major Johnson had been happy to finally be doing something instead of just sitting in a training room. This team was so much different from the Initiative. They just wanted to wipe the demons out, instead of studying them and so Riley could understand their frustration.

"So any idea how powerful these vamps are gonna be?" Graham asked, breaking Riley's thoughts.

"Not really, but they managed to hurt and injure both Buffy and Angel," Riley responded.

"Guess they'll be pretty tough then," Graham mused.

Before either of them could say another word, a scream came over their radios, causing both of them to jump.

"That sounded like Banks," Graham hissed, as he grabbed his radio. "Banks what's wrong? Report!" he shouted into speaker.

"We're been attacked, request assistance," came the reply, before the signal went dead.

"They were patrolling near the caves, come on," Riley said, as he turned and began to run. Graham was close behind.

They arrived to see Major Johnson and five others in the middle of being thrown about by five vampires, each had the tell tale signs of the vamps who attacked Buffy and Angel.

"Come on, we've gotta help," Riley shouted, as he ran towards one of the vamps and hit it squarely in the jaw with the butt of his weapon. The vampire just sneered at him and rammed its fist into his face, knocking him flying into a tree next to two bodies. Riley noticed that one was dead and the other was badly wounded.

'Great, Buffy isn't gonna like this,' he thought, as he got up and aimed at the vamps. His bullets tore into one of them and knocked it down. It howled in pain from the impact as Graham managed to stake it, just before he was hit over the head by a second vampire.

A third grabbed him and head butted him and Riley heard the sick sound of a breaking nose. The vampire then flung him into Major Johnson and as Graham got back to his feet Riley watched as two vampires grabbed two more of their team and, smiling, broke their necks.

As soon as Johnson saw this, he gave the retreat sign. Riley grabbed the wounded member of their team and began falling back. Graham was helped by Johnson. As they retreated, Riley caught sight of the vampires feeding off the dead members of their team. He was almost sick at the thought of it. 'Buffy is really not gonna like this,' he thought.

+++

Tara finally managed to regain her concentration as she felt a presence at the back of her mind helping her focus on Xander. She felt Jill's renewed strength and together they managed to find Xander again. As soon as they linked up, his physic scream stopped and slowly they pulled him back to the real world. As all three opened their eyes, the door to the magic shop burst open and Riley, Graham and Johnson rushed in, followed by his team. Graham had a broken nose. Riley was holding a barely alive teammate and the others looked like they had taken quite a beating.

Xander pushed himself into a sitting position as Giles and the others, bar Buffy, welcomed him back. Faith seemed very happy to see him awake. He looked around and at noticing Willow's unconscious form he frowned.

"What happened to Willow?" he asked.

"We don't know yet. I have not had yet a chance to inquire about it," Giles answered.

Before he could ask anything else, Tara flung herself into his arms and hugged him hard. He tried not to wince at the pain he felt; finally, Tara released him and sat back.

"Sorry," she said, trying to avoid his eyes.

"It's okay Tara and thanks," he said. He then turned to Jill and nodded his thanks to her as well. She just smiled in response.

Buffy did not bother to watch Xander wake up or the happiness of her friends at his recovery. Instead, she helped Riley and his team into the training room.

"What the hell happened, Riley?" she hissed.

"We went on a quick patrol and ran into trouble. We lost two of our team and we took a few injuries as well," Riley replied, as he placed the injured member onto the couch.

"Where?" she asked.

"Near the caves, there were at least five of them. We managed to kill one or two, but we were forced to retreat," he answered again, as he leaned against the wall.

"You didn't let us know you were going? Why not?" she asked and Riley could see that she was angry.

"You all seemed to be busy, with Xander being out cold and the arrival of Tara's friend," he said simply.

"Great. Well, at least we know where they are," Buffy said in reply.

"And the fact that Xander is awake means he can help as well," Angel's voice came from behind her.

She turned and glared at the ensouled vampire. She knew he was right, but the part of her that for some reason hated Xander, continued to take control of her reaction.

"I doubt he'll be much help, Angel," she countered.

Angel just sighed and shook his head, even though he still disliked Xander, he was willing, when necessary, to put aside his hatred to help fight the forces of evil. Buffy seemed to be just getting angrier and angrier. He sensed this could become a problem soon. They had to find out why she was acting like this, and better sooner than later. He turned and walked back into the main room, where he noticed Faith and Xander being filled in by Giles on what had happened so far.

+++

The winged being hovered above the magic shop and watched as his superior vision allowed him to see what was happening inside. He was happy to see the sorcerer had recovered and was now awake. Urial had been told not to interfere again, no matter what and he hoped a situation wouldn't arise where he would be forced to disobey his master. He had been told to keep an eye on the forces of good and to make sure nothing unexpected tried to interfere again and he would make sure nothing would tip the balance.

+++

Xander didn't like what Giles had told him so far, and they now had to find out what had happened to Willow. He was glad Rachel was still around. He had a few questions to ask her when he got a chance. Whistler walked over to him and smiled.

"Glad you're back," he said.

"Yeah, don't suppose you can tell us what happened to Willow and why she is now unconscious?" he shot back in reply.

"I do believe Rachel explained about Sara Rosenberg's power?" Whistler replied.

"You mean Willow's somehow inherited it, like I got Robert's?" Xander asked a little confused.

"That's right. Jill can work with Willow to help her control it, so that it doesn't hurt her. Doyle, I think you and Cordelia should as well, you both know what's its like," Whistler suggested.

"Sure," Doyle agreed and Cordelia just frowned.

"Anyway I gotta go take care of a few things. I'll be back soon," he told them all and then he vanished.

"Man he's worse than you, Deadboy," Xander said, as Angel walked into view.

"Meaning?" Angel inquired.

"Meaning he's twice as cryptic and worse at doing the vanishing into thin air thing," Xander answered.

Angel rolled his eyes at Xander's comments, knowing he should have suspected something like that from him.

"So now what?" Gunn asked.

"We have to prepare as Whistler suggested. Jill, Cordelia and Doyle will work with Willow. Xander will continue working with Rachel. Tara, Faith you can join them. Angel, I need you and Spike to scout out the caves where Riley and his team were attacked. Do not attack any vampires you see, just scout them out. Buffy, I want you to help me, Wesley, Oz and Gunn to do some more research," Giles answered.

"What about us?" Riley asked.

"Well, maybe you can get some more information out of Ethan," Giles suggested, indicating the still tied up warlock.

"Sure," Riley said. He and Graham untied the warlock and pushed him into the training room.

"Okay, let's get to work. Doyle, how long will Willow be out?" Buffy inquired.

"A few more minutes," Doyle answered.

"We'll go to my house and train. I think there will be more space there. See you later," Rachel said.

"Be careful and don't get into any fights on the way there," Wesley warned them.

"No problem," Faith shot back, as she followed Tara and Xander out the door. Xander just missed Buffy's cold stare.

Rachel walked next to Xander, just ahead of Tara and Faith. He seemed to have suffered no real side effects from the spell, but she knew the power of it, so she kept a close eye on him.

Tara tried to concentrate on her surroundings instead of Xander, but she found her gaze locked on his back. The dream seemed to have opened her up to new feelings and they all concentrated on Xander. She tried to keep reminding herself she was in love with Willow, but for some reason, her thoughts kept coming back to her girlfriend's best friend.

Faith was enjoying being out of prison. Although she didn't like the situation they were stuck in, she was used to things like this. She knew Buffy didn't trust her, and neither did Willow, but what had surprised her was the cold stare she had seen Buffy give Xander. She wondered what the hell was going on. As she followed the others, an image of a man and a woman entered her mind. She didn't recognize them, but they seemed familiar. The woman reminded her of Tara and the man seemed like Xander. She shook her head and tried to focus, to make sure nothing jumped them.

+++

Urial followed Xander and his friends at a distance, something was wrong. Some unseen event had taken place. His special eyesight showed him the second slayer was having visions of the past, visions that the blond slayer should be having. The old sorcerer had not foreseen this. He wondered why she was having them. Suddenly it clicked, there were two slayers because Xander had brought the blond back from the dead. Somehow, by bringing her back and making it possible for two slayers to be alive at the same time, he had changed certain parts of his ancestor's prophecy, but it also meant the blond would still pick up some taint of her ancestors life and he was beginning to suspect what it was. He feared how this change would affect the outcome of the battle.

+++

Tara watched Xander as he sat and meditated. Rachel had decided it would do him some good to clear his mind, before he tried any magic. Rachel was trying to teach Faith a few old style combat techniques and she seemed to be doing pretty good. Faith suddenly fell to the floor, her eyes closed and pain was etched on her face. Tara rushed over and knelt next to her, beside Rachel. "Faith, what is it?" she asked, somewhat worried.

Xander quickly snapped out of his trance and rushed over to them. He knelt and looked at Faith whose eyes were just opening. "What happened?" he asked.

"I-I don't know, some sort of flash hit me. I kept seeing some woman, with brownish hair. She was arguing with some guy who looked like you," she answered, as she leaned against the wall.

"Brownish hair? My god! You saw Jenna, Buffy's ancestor and Robert," Xander exclaimed. "Rachel, why would Faith be having visions? Did she have any ancestor involved in any of this?" Xander asked.

"No, I'm not sure why she would have visions. We should ask Mr. Giles," she answered.

Xander shook his head. Something about this didn't seem right to him. Some part of him knew Faith shouldn't be having these visions.  
13\. Chapter 13  
Chapter 13

Buffy hated research, but she couldn't argue with Giles at the moment. He was on edge with everything that had gone on and he was getting irritated at her constant berating of Xander, whenever he was mentioned. She couldn't help it though, something was making her mistrust him and to get irritated about things he said or did. She just didn't know what it was and she didn't understand it, but she knew it was getting stronger.

Giles was really beginning to get angry. Even with all the books Spike had brought them, they still didn't know too much about Valnon and his followers. Ethan refused to say anything more, however he was sure Riley and his friends could change his mind. He wondered how Angel and Spike were doing at the caves.

+++

Spike and Angel got as close to the cave entrance as they could. They noted three vampires were guarding it and each had the glowing green eyes, tattoo and metal claws. Both remembered their last encounter with them and neither wanted to fight them again so soon.

"What do you think?" Spike asked quietly.

"No way that we're getting in there without a fight. If it was just two them, we may have been able to take them out, but I'm not taking the chance the third will call for help," Angel told him. "If he did, we would get killed or captured and it would just weaken our chances of winning this," he added.

"I'd have to agree with you there, mate." Spike nodded, as he watched the guards.

"Alright, let's try finding some other entrance. You go left, I'll take the right side and stay out of sight," Angel told him.

Spike nodded again and moved away

Faith was still having visions of the past, for some reason they were coming in short, but frequent bursts. Each was as confusing to Faith as the next.

Xander and Tara were trying to concentrate on their own memories to help out. Rachel was trying to find out why Faith was having visions, but so far she was having no luck.

Xander opened his eyes to look at Tara and was surprised at how attractive she looked while sitting across from him. She had her eyes closed and was trying to dredge up some sort of memory from her ancestor Karan. He had always found her nice looking, but now she was looking more and more beautiful to him. Hell, he even was beginning to have thoughts centered on kissing her. He froze as that thought washed through him. He couldn't have thoughts like that. Tara was Willow's girlfriend and he'd die before he hurt Willow and yet the thoughts were still there, somewhere deep inside him.

Tara could feel someone watching her and she knew instantly that it was Xander. She wondered what he was thinking. She had been having disturbing thoughts ever since they had dream kissed. She was still trying to fight them, but she found herself resisting that. She couldn't hurt Willow, but she was finding it harder and harder to fight the thoughts that kept invading her mind.

Willow shook her head at the pain she was still feeling. According to Jill, she was inheriting her ancestor Sara's powers. Even though she was curious at the prospect of seeing the future, she wasn't enjoying the pain that accompanied them. Cordelia was finding it a little funny. She kept telling her how she now knew how she felt, once Doyle had passed his visions on to her.

"Listen Willow, you have to try and focus your mind or the pain will get worse each time you have visions," Doyle instructed her.

She nodded and closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind of any stray thoughts, especially those centered on what was happening between her girlfriend and her best friend.

"Okay, I am gonna send a quick vision to you. Just try to relax and let it come through," Doyle told her.

Willow just nodded in reply.

"Sara never felt the pain, which means if you concentrate hard enough you won't either," Jill informed her.

Suddenly, the vision came to her and the pain came too, but this time it was not as painful as before. She tried to focus more on the vision. She saw Xander and her having some sort of discussion, both of them were laughing and she noted they were younger than they were now, so she guessed it was from the past.

"I think I did it. The pain was still there, but it was not as painful as before," she told them as she opened her eyes.

"You're getting closer, but you're not there yet," Doyle told her.

She sighed and continued listening to their instructions, hoping she'd get this quickly as she feared the darkness was coming very soon.

+++

Faith finally had enough and basically shouted at Rachel to tell her why she was having dreams or she was gonna go and find some answers herself. Xander had quickly intercepted her and managed to convince her to allow them to return to the magic shop, so they could ask Jill. They walked slowly through the park, making sure to watch their backs. However as they neared the exit, ten vampires appeared in front of them, all had the tattoos and claws as the others, but the eyes of these vampires were red.

"Oh crap," Xander moaned.

"Great, at least now I can vent my frustration and anger," Faith said with a smile, as she removed a stake from her jacket pocket.

"Stay close together," Rachel told them as she focused her mind to be ready for battle. Tara instantly moved to Xander's side, ready to bring her magic to the fore.

Before anyone could strike, Riley and three of his commando's turned up, alongside Angel and Spike.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Xander shouted.

"We were on a quick patrol run and Spike sensed the vampires close by," Riley shouted back as he moved in close to where Xander and the others stood.

"You noticed these guys have red eyes instead of green?" Angel inquired.

"Yeah, we did," Faith shot back.

"Jackson, get back to the magic shop and tell them we need help," Riley told one his men. The man nodded and quickly ran back the way they had come.

+++

Buffy was getting a little more irritated with Giles, especially when he had told her to stay behind and not go on the patrol run with Riley, Angel and Spike. She didn't want to be here researching books. She wanted to be out there, kicking undead butts. The door to the magic shop quickly opened and one of Riley's men entered. He looked a little out of breath as he came to a halt near the counter.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked.

"We came across Xander and his party near the park exit. They were facing off against at least ten vampires. Riley sent me back for help," he gasped out.

"I told you I should have gone," Buffy hissed at her watcher, who just glared at her in return.

"Wesley, tell Major Johnson we need three of his men to go help Riley and the others. Buffy and I will go as well," Giles instructed him.

Wesley nodded and ran into the training room to tell the major, while Buffy headed behind the counter to grab one of the weapons Giles stored there. Giles soon followed to get one of his own. Five minutes later and they were ready to go.

"Okay, let's go," Buffy said, as she headed for the door.

"Good luck," Cordelia said to them as they left.

+++

Riley cursed as the vampire's claw dug into his leg. He felt the blood run as he fell. He tried to shove the vamp away, but he couldn't.

"Someone, help me," he shouted.

No one answered as everyone was too busy fighting for their lives. After Jackson had left, seven more vamps had shown up and they were even tougher than the green eyed vamps they had fought before.

The vamp picked him up and head butted him and then kneed him in the chest. He fell to his knees in pain. He tried to stand up again, only to have the vamp slam his fist down onto his spine. He yelled out in agony as the vamp let him drop to the ground. As the vamp lifted him up again, he noticed Buffy leading some of his men toward them, but before he could say or do anything, the vamp sunk his fangs into his neck. He faintly heard Buffy's scream of horror, before his vision blurred. The vamp twisted his neck, snapping it.  
14\. Chapter 14  
Chapter 14

Buffy screamed as she saw the vamp sink its claws into her boyfriend and the scream turned into totally horror as she watched the vamp snapping Riley's neck. Her feet buckled and she fell to her knees. Giles and the others didn't hesitate. They jumped right into the fight to help the others. Giles managed to behead the vampire who had killed Riley, before he was jumped by two more.

Xander fell next to Tara with multiple cuts, all down his arm and chest. He was bleeding badly, but he refused to stay down. He pushed himself back to his feet and intercepted a vampire that was trying to get to Tara, who was busy casting a spell. He slammed it to the ground and punched it twice in the gut. It kneed him and he fell off it. He rose quickly and kicked him, knocking him onto his back. He spat out a bit of blood as he stood up again and the vampire was closing in on him.

"Xander, move it!" he suddenly heard Faith shout.

His mind came awake instantly and he dodged the vampire's charge. He managed to land a spin kick to the back of the vamp, which knocked it to the ground.

"Here Xand, Catch!" Faith shouted. He turned to see Faith tossing him a stake and quickly caught it and staked the vamp as it got up.

He looked around the park and noticed Riley's body lying on the ground. His neck was bent at an unnatural angle and he knew something was wrong. He noticed Buffy on her knees, crying, and he knew for certain Riley wouldn't be getting up. He didn't have any time to think more, as he saw Giles being overwhelmed by two of the vamps. He cursed and ran straight towards them. He smashed straight into the tallest of the vamps, knocking it into a tree.

Giles used the distraction to bring his axe's handle into the second vamps groin, putting it to the ground. He raised the axe and took its head clean off. Xander was knocked into the metal bar of the swings by the first vamp. He tried to stand, but he became dizzy and he didn't see the vamp ram its claws into his side. He yelled out in pain as he fell to his knees.

Faith heard Xander's scream and quickly staked the vampire she had been fighting and ran off in his direction. As she neared the two combatants, she noticed Xander was on his knees, using the last of his strength to keep the vampire back. A surge of adrenalin rushed through her, as she charged into a jumping back kick, knocking the vamp clear of Xander. She staked it before the vamp could get to its feet.

She noticed two more of Riley's men lying dead near the roundabout, both had deep bite marks and one had his throat ripped out. She looked around and noticed Tara incinerate the last of the vampires. Rachel was close to her and looked very tired, her arm was badly cut, but other than that she seemed fine. Angel was on his back and had very bad cuts deep in his chest and sides. One of his arms looked broken and he had a stake sticking out of one of his legs. Spike didn't seem too bad, except for a cut on his forehead and Giles just had a few cuts on his arms and chest.

She finally noticed Riley's body and frowned as she saw Buffy, still on her knees, crying her eyes out. She shook her head and helped Xander to his feet as Tara ran over to help. Spike got Angel onto his feet and helped him move. Giles picked up Riley's corpse as Rachel managed to guide Buffy to her feet and they quickly headed for the Magic Box, the last two surviving members of Riley's team guarded their rear.

Willow sat at the table reading one of the last books Spike had brought them, but her mind wasn't on the task, as she couldn't stop thinking how the fight at the park was going. Neither Cordelia nor Doyle had said something bad would happen, so she took that as a good sign.

The door quickly opened and Rachel entered supporting a hysterical Slayer. Faith and Tara followed, carrying a badly wounded Xander. Spike was next, supporting a beat up ensouled vampire and finally Giles entered, carrying the limp body of Riley. Two of Riley's men quickly followed and shut the door.

"My god, what happened?" Willow gasped in horror.

"The fight went badly, what do you think happened?" Faith snapped as she laid Xander carefully on the table while Tara helped.

"Giles, where is your med kit?" Cordelia asked.

"Behind the counter," Giles said, as he placed Riley's body on the floor. Major Johnson quickly walked out of the training room, followed by Graham and his remaining men.

Cordelia brought the kit to Faith who quickly began tending to Xander's wound. Tara stayed close by, her worry and care for Xander evident in her eyes. Willow tried to keep her jealously at bay, but she couldn't help but feel left out.

"I don't believe it," Graham said, as he saw Riley's dead body.

"I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do," Giles apologized.

"Bull, it's Xander's fault he's dead," Buffy suddenly spat, as she marched towards where Faith was tending to him.

"You come any closer Buffy, and I'll knock you out," Tara warned her.

"Get out of my way, witch," Buffy hissed.

Tara eye's flashed red as she quickly raised her hand and a green ball of energy knocked Buffy flying into the counter, knocking her out cold.

Everyone who was not beaten up or half dead stared at Tara in amazement. She had just knocked Buffy Summers out cold. One of the toughest slayers had gone out like a light. Faith actually smiled at the sight and then quickly returned to tend to Xander's wound. Major Johnson and his men picked up Riley's corpse and carried it into the next room. Giles sat down tiredly as Spike dumped Angel into a nearby chair.

"This isn't good," Cordelia whispered.

"I'm afraid not. Three fights and three defeats, not such a good sign," Giles agreed having heard her comment.

"Is there anyone else we can contact who could help us? I mean, we've lost most of Riley's team, plus Riley himself," Wesley asked, trying not to sound too down.

"I don't know, I can't think at the moment," Giles answered, trying to get over the last couple of hours.

"How is Xander?" Tara asked, finally taking her eyes of the slumped form of Buffy and back to where Faith patched him up.

"The wound is kind of deep, but I've managed to stop the flow of blood. I just need to bandage it up," Faith answered.

"What do we do about Buffy, Giles? As soon as she wakes up she'll still go after Xander," Willow asked.

"True, she is not one to let go of an impulse easily, plus with her increasing irrational behavior towards Xander, it could be very bad," Giles said standing up.

"Did you say her behavior has altered in the last few weeks?" Rachel asked. Quickly a frown graced her face.

"Yes, for the last three or four weeks now, she has been behaving very irrational towards him. I believe she doesn't trust him for some reason," Giles replied, as he walked over to where Buffy still laid unconscious.

"I think I know the answer now," Rachel exclaimed.

"The answer to what?" Doyle asked.

"Why Faith has been having visions of the past and the answer to Buffy's behavior," she replied.

"So what is it?" Faith questioned without turning away from her work on Xander.

"Jenna is Buffy's ancestor and she fought alongside Robert who is Xander's ancestor, Jenna never trusted Robert though. In fact, sometimes she could be very hostile towards him. I believe Buffy has begun to inherit this feeling of mistrust, just like Xander, Willow and Tara have inherited memories from their ancestors," Rachel explained.

"And Faith? Why does she have visions from the past? She isn't Jenna's descendant," Giles inquired.

"Because there are two slayers now and because the slayer essence is now shared between two people instead of one, the prophecy has been altered. Neither Robert nor Sara could foresee that Xander would bring Buffy back from the dead, causing a second slayer to be activated and now Faith has part of Jenna's past and her memories. While Buffy has her mistrust of the sorcerer," she told them, indicating where Xander lay.

"So I have Buffy's ancestors memories due to us both being slayers?" Faith asked a little surprised.

"Yes, and I believe that Xander was the one who made it possible," Rachel replied.

"Great, thanks Xand," Faith said to Xander, who just smiled weakly.

+++

Major Johnson had the look of a mad man on his face as his men placed Riley's body into a body bag. Graham seemed pretty upset at the loss of his friend and the rest of the men were uneasy and one was almost out of his mind with fear.

"This isn't going well sir," Jackson said.

"No, it's not, but we still have a job to do. We can't let these vampires win," Johnson shot back.

"Yes sir," Jackson replied.

+++

Buffy's eyes slowly opened and she looked around. Faith was asleep at the table and there was a body lying in front of her, but she couldn't see who it was. She then noticed Willow and Cordelia curled up on the sofa Giles had brought in from the training room. She couldn't see the others, but she could hear a lot of noise. Suddenly it all came back to her and her eyes quickly began to fill with tears. Riley was dead, her boyfriend was dead. She got to her feet and focused on the body lying in front of Faith and she knew who it was. It was Xander and he was the reason why Riley was dead.

+++

Major Johnson brought out a map of Sunnydale, which Riley had shown him when they had arrived. He marked where the vampires were hiding and where the three fights had taken place. His remaining men gathered together to look at the map.

"All right, for now I think we should stay away from the park and the caves. I am going to call in for a few reinforcements," he told them.

"From where sir?" asked one of his men.

"From the surviving initiative personnel who are still living here, Graham will know where they are," he answered.

"So what do we do until then, sir?" asked Jackson.

"We will keep a look out just outside the Magic Box and two of us will make a run around town in Riley's jeep, but we will not engage any vamps, unless we see them attacking anyone," he told them.

"Sounds good sir, should we tell Riley's friends?" asked the smallest of the lot.

"Graham will do that, Briggs," Johnson answered.

Graham just nodded and headed for the door leading to the store itself.

+++

Buffy wiped her eyes clear and headed toward the table where Xander lay recovering from his wounds. Her eyes held nothing but hate and anger. She ignored everything around her, including Giles who asked her if she was alright. Tara quickly stood in her path, her own eyes showing her anger; but this anger was directed at the slayer herself and not the man lying on the table.

"Get the hell out of my way, Tara," Buffy screamed.

"No," Tara shot back, readying herself for a confrontation.

Buffy noticed everyone was now watching them, including Xander who was leaning on his elbow, although he was visibly still in pain.

"That bastard is responsible for my boyfriend's death," Buffy hissed.

"No, he isn't. You are angry and upset and under the influence of your ancestor's feelings," Tara told her.

Buffy's brow winkled in confusion at Tara's reply, but her anger quickly returned and she took a few steps forward.

"I'm warning you, Buffy. Back off now, before I knock you out again," Tara told her.

Buffy didn't answer instead she used her slayer enhanced speed and charged into Tara, knocking her back into the table. Tara however managed to stay on her feet and shoved the slayer backwards. Buffy went to strike the witch, but Spike managed to grab her from behind and pull her away.

"Calm down slayer," he shouted.

Once again Buffy didn't answer instead she brought her elbow back hard into Spike's unprotected chest, causing him to release her. She spun and sent him flying into a table with a hard spin kick. She then faced Tara again.

"Stop this now," Giles roared, his anger now finally erupting.

"No, he is going to pay for Riley's death," Buffy spat, as she charged again. This time she dodged Tara and went straight for the injured Xander. However, Faith knocked her onto her ass with a back kick.

"Calm down B or I am really going to kick your ass," Faith warned her sister slayer.

"What's a matter, Xander? Can't fight your own battles?" Buffy sneered, trying to anger Xander.

Xander weakly pushed himself to his feet, but would have fallen flat on his face if not for Tara grabbing him and steadying him. With Tara's assistance he walked over to Buffy who quickly jumped back up.

"There was nothing I could do Buffy. I was too busy keeping those vamps off Tara," he told her.

"Of course you would say that. I bet you let him die just so you could try and take his place. Is that it Xander? Did you think with Riley dead I'd finally go out with you?" Buffy mocked.

"That's bullshit Buffy and you know it," Xander shot back, angered now by Buffy's accusations.

"Oh face it, that's all you wanted to begin with. You love me still and you made sure Riley was on his own so he could be killed, so that you then have your chance with me," Buffy continued.

"That is a lie and I don't love you anymore, not like that," Xander told her.

"Prove it!" Buffy shouted her fists tightly clenched.

"How the hell could I love you if I love Ta-," Xander started to shout back. He just barely stopped himself from completing the sentence.

Willow's eyes were locked on her lifetime friend, suspicion and fear was visible in her eyes. Tara also seemed to suspect what he had been about to say and she quickly tried to stop from blushing, but she couldn't stop the warm feelings Xander's slip up invoked inside her. Was she really falling in love with him or was it just her ancestor's memories and feelings affecting her?

Xander closed his eyes in shock as he realized what he had almost said. He quickly came up with a plan and pretended to faint, falling to the floor quickly as if in exertion. Faith and Giles picked him up and placed him back on the table, unaware he was still awake. Rachel and Jill dragged Buffy out of the shop to explain why she was acting so hostile towards Xander.

Ethan's eyes slowly opened as he came back to himself after his beating at the hands of the slayer's boyfriend. His chest was sore as were parts of his face. He didn't notice the Emerald winged creature watching him from the shadows, but he did notice none of the soldiers were in the room. He went to try and cast a spell which would release him from the chair he was tied to, when a green light enveloped him. Once it lifted he found he couldn't speak, he looked around fearfully, but didn't see anything. The emerald winged creature smiled and then vanished.

Urial watched as the emerald creature vanished with a hard glare. He knew the powers would try and interfere with the sorcerer's prophecy. He shook his head and some of his long blond hair covered his eyes, which he quickly pushed back. 'Damn powers, always think they are in the right just because they are fighting the darkness,' Urial thought. He decided he would have to report back to his master before taking any action. He took one last look around and then flew off.  
15\. Chapter 15  
Note: I'd like to thank my beta Grossclout and Hawklan for all their help with this story

Chapter 15

Xander sat in the corner of the Magic Box and was avoiding everyone, especially Willow. He didn't dare look into his friend's eyes in fear she would see the truth, the truth that he had fallen in love with her girlfriend. He still found it hard to believe his feelings for the young blond witch, but deep inside of him he kept asking himself if this was somehow related to Robert's love for Karan, Tara's ancestor.

He noticed Faith watching him with a sly smile. She knew he could tell by the way she looked at him. 'Great,' he thought, that was he needed. Knowing the animosity between her and Willow she might use it just to get under Willow's skin and that would lead to real trouble. 'As if we weren't in enough as it is,' Xander thought with a shake of his head.

Faith watched Xander intently as he tried to avoid everyone in the Magic Box especially Red, she had an idea why. Xander had the ‘hots' for Tara, not that she could blame him, Tara was pretty damn hot. She couldn't help but wonder how Red would react once she knew for sure that Xander was in love with Tara and she had noticed Tara had blushed when Xander had almost slipped up thanks to B pushing him in her anger. Although she understood that B was upset and angry, that was no reason to blame it on Xander. Then there was the fact that she was being affected by her own ancestor's distrust of Xander's ancestor. The memories she continued to have from Buffy's ancestor's life were quite confusing to her, which was no surprise as she was only having these thanks to Buffy dying and Xander bringing her back.

Tara sat next to Willow, but avoided looking at her. Luckily Willow was too busy talking with Cordelia and Doyle after the latest bout of visions to question her about Xander's slip. As soon as she thought about Xander she felt warm and safe. She tried to shake it off, but she couldn't. Her feelings for him were becoming stronger and she couldn't fight them, she didn't want to fight them. She could almost feel Xander's own feelings, due to her special sense and it made her dizzy with joy.

With a dazed look on her face Buffy entered the Magic Box again and was followed by Jill and Rachel. Her anger was gone and replaced with confusion and surprise. She walked past everyone without sparing them a glance, entered the back room and slammed the door shut.

"How did she take it?" asked Gunn.

"Not too well, she thought we were making it up at first to protect Xander," Rachel explained.

"I'm not really surprised. Her anger can be quite trying at times," Giles sighed as he removed his glasses and rubbed them with his handkerchief.

"Yeah, well we don't have time for her anger Giles. We need her focused," Faith said, walking over to them.

"I agree, Giles. Someone has to talk to her and to get her to put Riley's death aside for now," Spike agreed as he stood next to them.

"I'll do it," Angel sighed, not looking forward to the confrontation.

"Very well, go through the back door. In her state, she will have most likely forgotten to lock that as well," Giles told him.

The ensouled vampire nodded and walked out of the shop. Wesley quickly walked over with a worried look.

"Is something wrong, Wes?" Faith asked.

"Yes, where are Major Johnson and his men?" Wesley asked.

"I suppose they have gone on a little scouting mission again. Hopefully they know better than to get into a fight," Giles answered.

"We need some more help, Giles," Faith told him.

"I know, but where can we get it from?" Giles agreed.

"I know you may think I've gone insane for suggesting this, but why not hire the order of Teraka," Spike suggested.

"The order?" Giles exclaimed in shock.

"Why not? They don't care who they work for, as long as they get paid," Spike told him. "They've killed demons, vampires, humans and countless others as long as they get a good sum of money for each job," Spike added.

"He's right, Giles. They could come in handy," Wesley said.

"Major Johnson may not like this, and neither will Buffy, but I suppose it's our best shot," Giles finally gave in. "Spike, do you have a way to contact them?" he asked.

"Yeah," the vampire told him.

Giles nodded and indicated for him to follow. Faith went back to her seat, just glimpsing that Tara and Xander were sharing a small glance, before quickly looking away like guilty children.

Angel slowly opened the back door to the training area and noticed Buffy had her back to him, which made him feel quite relived, he entered trying not to make any noise.

"What do you want Angel?" Buffy's cold voice asked.

"We need to talk, Buffy," he replied, standing a few feet behind her.

"Why?" she asked, her anger was back, making Angel feel somewhat apprehensive.

"You're getting distracted, Buffy, and we don't have time for that," he told her simply.

Buffy spun around as fast as possible and tried to knock the vampire out cold, but he was ready and managed to grab her fist.

"See what I mean? Your anger is clouding your judgment," Angel told her calmly.

"My boyfriend is dead, you cold-hearted bastard, and it's Xander's fault and everyone is protecting him and making up lies," she hissed.

"Wrong Buffy. You can try and blame this on Xander as much as you want, but deep down, you know better," Angel countered. "What Rachel and Jill told you is the truth and you have to accept it, and fast. We don't know when Valnon will attack. So far, we've been beaten each time and, if you stay distracted, you'll be dead as well," he added letting his own anger show.

"Damn you. Get out!" Buffy screamed at her ex-boyfriend.

"Fine, but get your head straight now, while we have time, or else someone may be forced to knock some sense into you," he told her before walking away, not catching Buffy's hard gaze locked onto his back.

Spike placed the phone back onto its holder with a smile, as Giles and Wesley came toward him, both with questioning glances.

"Well?" Giles asked.

"They'll take the contract. They're sending us eleven of their warriors, it'll cost us $175000 dollars to be paid on completion of the job," Spike informed them.

"That's quite expensive," Wesley mused.

"When dealing with the order, you learn quickly that they always ask for a large sum," Spike responded.

"Do we have that much money?" Wesley asked as Angel re-entered the store.

"I'll contact the watchers council and have them send us the money," Giles told them with a tired yawn.

"They'll be a bit hesitant to send that much money," Wesley said.

"Considering the circumstances, I think they will agree that it is necessary," Giles stated.

"How long before these warriors arrive?" Wesley asked Spike, as he lit a cigarette.

"They said twenty to twenty-five hours max. Until then, it's just us," Spike answered.

"I don't suppose they said if they were sending just human warriors?" Angel asked, as he joined them at the counter.

"I did ask for them to send just Human warriors. They said they'll do what they can," Spike replied.

Tara watched Xander's every move as he talked with Faith. It was obvious to her that she suspected something between her and Xander, especially after Xander's slip. She wondered if Xander was trying to get her to promise not to say anything to Willow.

She dreaded what would happen once Willow discovered she had feelings for Xander and vice versa. Buffy was already distracted because of her feelings, and they couldn't afford Willow been distracted as well, but she just didn't know how long she could keep herself under control. She wanted nothing more than to kiss Xander long and hard and never let go, and she could sense Xander was having just as much trouble staying away from her and not letting his feelings take over. She noticed Willow's gaze on her and quickly looked away from Xander, although with great effort, and focused instead on what Giles and the others were discussing, hoping her girlfriend didn't choose now to discuss what Xander's slip meant.

Oz had noticed Tara's gaze locked on Xander and he instantly knew something was happening between the two, especially since Xander had slipped up during Buffy's outburst. He looked to where Willow stood and hoped nothing bad came of whatever it was that was happening between Tara and Xander. He then focused on what Spike had set in motion. They had hired members of the order of Takara and that, in itself, made him even more nervous. He wondered how Buffy would take it, once she had calmed down enough to focus. In all his time fighting alongside Buffy and the others, this had to be the hardest fight they had been involved in.

Buffy finally opened the door and walked back into the main shop. Tara was asleep on the couch near the door next to Cordelia, who was also out cold. Angel and Spike were near the door keeping an eye out the window in case of trouble. Giles, Wesley, Doyle and Willow were near the table, going through some of the books Spike had brought. Xander was talking to Oz on the far side of the room. Upon seeing him, her anger flared, but she managed to hold it down. Faith and Gunn were talking with Major Johnson and his men, who had finally returned from their scouting mission. Jill and Rachel were sleeping in the chairs near the counter. She walked over to where Giles was and waited until he noticed that she had come out of the training room.

"How are you Buffy?" Giles asked, looking at her.

"I'm okay. So, what's new?" she asked, hoping to avoid any conversation on Riley's death.

"We have been forced into a rather difficult situation. Luckily Spike came up with a plan that will increase our numbers," Giles told her.

"What was it?" Buffy asked.

"We hired the Order of Takara," Giles said simply.

Buffy's mind seemed to close down for a few seconds and she stared at Giles as if he had three heads. "We what?" she asked, her voice rising in anger and disbelief.

"We hired 11 warriors from the order of Takara," Giles told her.

"They're killers, they work for the bad guys," Buffy argued.

"No, they work for money. It doesn't matter who hires them, as long as they get paid," Spike entered the conversation.

"And how are we going to pay them?" Buffy asked.

"The watchers council is sending us the money. It should be here in five hours. The warriors from the order should be here in twenty hours," Wesley answered, before Giles could.

"Why didn't you tell me before going ahead with it?" she demanded.

"You weren't exactly in the listening mood B," Faith said, walking over to them.

"I think I would have listened to that piece of information," Buffy said.

"I doubt it," Gunn said from where he now stood, next to Spike and Angel.

"Since when do we take ideas of Spike anyway?" Buffy asked.

"Since now, we needed more help and that was the only way," Xander said, stepping beside Faith.

"And who the hell put you in charge, murderer?" Buffy said, staring coldly at him.

Xander flinched. "I'm not in control here, Buff. Giles is," Xander shot back.

"No, I am," Buffy hissed.

"You are in no condition to lead a fight, Buffy," Willow said.

"Damn you all, I am not made of glass. I am leading this fight. I am the slayer," Buffy shouted to them all, waking Tara, Jill, Rachel and Cordelia.

"So am I, B," Faith challenged her sister slayer.

"Please Buffy we don't want to argue with you, we want to help you. At the moment you are not in a decent state of mind to lead a fight," Giles rationalized.

Buffy spun and stalked back into the training room, slamming the door very hard and locking it. Angel stepped up toward the door with a frown.

"That's it. I warned her someone might be forced to make her see sense and now someone will have to do it," Angel said angrily. He turned and exited the shop, knowing Buffy might have forgotten to lock the back door again.

Buffy spun as the back door opened and Angel walked into the room just like he had before. In her anger, she had forgotten to lock it again. Then again it was obvious Angel would have broken the door in half to get to her.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"I warned you someone might have to knock some sense into you. You didn't listen and now someone will knock sense into you," he told her, smashing his fist into her face knocking her backward and onto her butt. She got up and hissed as she dropped into a fighting stance. "What you need to do is release your anger, so let's do it," Angel said, knowing this was going to be very painful for both of them, but it was the only way to make Buffy's anger dissipate.  
16\. Chapter 16  
Note: I'd like to thank my beta Grossclout and Hawklan for all their help with this story

Chapter 16

Xander tried to focus his mind as Rachel had instructed him, but every time he closed his eyes he saw an image of Tara. At first it was there for a few moments, but now it was staying with him for longer periods. He wondered just how deep his feelings for the blond witch would go and once again if his ancestor influenced them. He shook his head and tried again, only to see an image of him and Tara lying on a bed holding each other closely. He was whispering something to her and she had the purest smile on her face. His eyes snapped open and quickly located Tara, only to have his eyes connect with her own as if pulled. She seemed to be staring right through him and yet he could feel her at the back of his mind. He tried to pull his eyes away from her, but he couldn't and he dropped deeper into her.

Faith sensed Xander's sudden movement and quickly looked to find him staring directly at Tara, who was also staring back at him. She noticed the way their eyes were fixed on each other as if nothing else existed. As she turned to talk to Giles, she noticed Willow had also noticed where her girlfriend was staring. She could instantly tell her anger and obviously jealously was beginning to win and she guessed Red was about to explode.

Willow couldn't take it anymore. Since this whole affair started, she had felt like she was losing Tara. But now, seeing her girlfriend staring openly at Xander, as if he was the only thing that mattered, broke her control and her anger seeped through. She marched toward them and halted between them. She watched as both slowly came out of their daze and met her eyes. Tara flinched at the look in them, while Xander seemed to be on the verge of either laughing or crying. She knew Xander would realize what he had done, before Tara could, as he had broken her heart once before.

"Willow?" Xander started, but Willow was quicker and wheeled on him.

"Don't 'Willow' me, Xander. I see it in your eyes and hers. You're in love with each other," Willow accused them both. "Your slip earlier proved it," she added, her eyes dancing with fire.

Xander hung his head in shame at how he had hurt his friend again. This time it had been beyond his control, but somehow he couldn't get the words out. Tara however couldn't take the accusation in her girlfriend's voice and fled through the door, before anyone could react.

Tara ran as fast as she could away from Willow's glare and her anger and away from Xander's love and her own feelings. She didn't notice the car following her, until it pulled up in front of her and the door opened quickly and she was pulled into the back before she could even scream. She looked straight into the face of a vamp that just smiled evilly at her and then slammed his fist into her face, knocking her unconscious.

Xander jerked up right as he felt the terror from Tara and the pain as someone or something hit her. Faith immediately noticed the look on his face and walked over to him. Willow paid no heed as Cordelia consoled her.

"What is it Xand?" she asked.

"Something has happened to Tara," he answered as another wave of pain shot through him.

"Do you know where she is?" Jill asked. Her voice was full of concern as she appeared next to them, with Rachel close behind.

"No, I think she's unconscious. Valnon wouldn't send his people after one of us," Xander answered.

"How do you know that?" Giles asked, as he noticed the concern on Jill's face at what Xander had said.

"I don't, Robert did and I have his memories," Xander said, with his eyes wide.

"You've finally accepted them fully," Rachel noted.

"Oh shit! We are so fucking dumb," Xander suddenly cried.

"Why, what is it?" Wesley asked as he rushed over.

"We forgot about the damn artifacts the vamps were after. We were so busy learning about the prophecy and Valnon that we forgot they wanted to raise a damn dead vamp or demon," Xander said dead-eyed.

"Oh dear," Giles said, his own shock coming through.

"They did it to distract us, to split us up so we couldn't attack in force or to at least cause us to lose some of our people rescuing Tara," Wesley told them, as he understood the strategy the demon had used to blindside them.

"This makes things even worse," Faith said with a shake of her head.

"We have to rescue her or else we won't be able to defeat Valnon," Xander told them.

"We have to find them first. Spike, see if you can find out anything," Giles said turning to the blond vamp who quickly nodded and almost ran out of the door.

"Tara," Xander said fearfully, before he collapsed as a shock-wave of pain shot through him. Faith caught him before he could fall face first onto the floor.

"Giles help," she said. Giles quickly took Xander's legs and helped to place him on the couch next to Fred and Gunn.

"This is getting worse than possible," Doyle said with a cold grimace.

"What's happened?" Buffy's voice suddenly broke in. They all turned to see Buffy and Angel supporting each other and both were covered in bruises and both seemed to have a dislocated shoulder.

"Great," Giles cursed.

Xander's body convulsed for the fifth time since he collapsed. Faith, who was keeping watch over him, was beginning to suspect this was not a usual collapse and that someone had cast some sort of spell on him. She turned to where Buffy and Angel were recovering from their injuries and the only good thing seemed to be that Buffy was no longer concentrating on Riley's death. She placed her hand on Xander's forehead and quickly recoiled as if burned.

"Giles, something is wrong. He's burning up," she shouted to where the Watcher stood near the table.

"Burning up?" Giles said somewhat surprised.

"I think this is some sort of spell, Giles. Another tactic to delay us," Faith told him. The watcher nodded and began looking through some of his books.

"Rachel is there anything you or Jill can do?" Faith asked.

"I'm afraid there is not much we can do. We may be able to tell you if it is a spell that's all," Rachel replied as she walked over to them.

"At least then we'll know," Faith shot back, a little anger creeping through her.

"Okay Jill, get the supplies we'll need," Rachel nodded at her daughter who just went to complete her task.

"Willow, maybe you should try doing a locator spell to find where Tara is being held," Wesley suggested to the red-haired witch, who was sitting next to Cordelia.

"I'll try," Willow said in a weak voice. Her fear for her girlfriend and her friend overrunning her anger and jealously over what she had seen happening between them.

"Isn't it possible they'll keep her in the caves?" Fred asked.

"I doubt it. According to Xander before he collapsed, they used the artifacts to raise a dead demon or vampire to delay us or split us up, so it makes sense they'll keep her somewhere separate than where Valnon is hiding," Wesley answered her.

"This is making things ten times worse," Cordelia muttered.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. How long before the warriors from the order arrive?" Wesley asked.

"Half an hour," Giles answered.

"Hopefully we'll have found a way to wake Xander and locate Tara before then," Wesley said with a shake of his head.

"Faith, I want you to hold Xander's hand while we perform this spell. Try and keep him still," Rachel told the dark slayer. Faith nodded, moving to Xander's other side to give Rachel and Jill space, and grasped Xander's hand.

"This may cause him some discomfort as usual when using a probe spell," Jill said as she placed the items in front of them.

"A what spell?" Faith asked.

"A probe spell; it will allow us to probe Xander's subconscious and thus allow us to determine what is keeping him unconscious," Rachel explained.

"Okay," Faith nodded somewhat uncertain.

+++

Tara tried to keep her eyes closed as she tried to use her link to Xander to call for help, but all she could see was darkness and she could also feel pain. As she opened her eyes she knew something had happened to him, just as she had been taken. These meant things were even worse than they were before. She watched as the bald- headed vampire walked toward where she was chained to the wall. She hoped to keep the fear she was feeling of her face.

"So you are the sorcerer's mate. You have power, I can feel it," the vampire said with an evil smile.

"Who are you?" she asked hesitantly.

"I am called the Master. It would seem the old one was in need of my services and has brought me back to life after the slayer killed me," the vampire answered his smile turning even more evil. She had forgotten about the artifacts the vampires they had encountered had been looking for, when this whole mess started.

"I have been ordered to keep you alive and to wait until your mate comes and then kill you both," the vampire taunted her.

"You can't kill him. Valnon must face him," Tara hissed, not knowing where the knowledge came from.

"It would seem the old one is not interested in facing the sorcerer again," the master told her while stepping a little closer. "It would seem he wants to change the prophecy so that the sorcerer and his friends can't win under any circumstances," the master added. "However, he has made one mistake and that was resurrecting me," the master told her with a wide, evil grin.

"What do you mean?" Tara asked.

"I do not like being ordered around by anyone. Not even a demon from hell," the master snarled. "I will make him pay for thinking he can command me," he added before turning and walking away, leaving Tara alone and miserable.

+++

Rachel eyes opened slowly as she released the spell she had cast. Jill was supporting her as she tried to stand. Faith let go of Xander's hand and stood as well, looking at her expectedly.

"It is a spell and a dark one at that," she told them.

"I knew it," Faith hissed.

"Do you know who cast it?" Giles asked, as he walked over to them.

"I would suspect it was Valnon. He has a vast knowledge of dark magic," Rachel answered.

"Is there a way we can counter it?" Buffy asked, as she joined them.

"Yes, someone is going to have to go inside Xander's mind and help him fight whatever force is attacking him," Rachel told them.

"I'll go," Buffy said.

"You can't. It must be someone he trusts and at the moment things between you are not too good. Willow can't go either," Rachel told them.

"I'll do it," Faith said fiercely, surprising almost everyone in the room.

"Very well, Mr. Giles we'll need a very powerful book called the Drakanal," Rachel said facing Giles.

"The demon book of magic?" Giles said shocked.

"Yes, do you have it?" she asked in reply.

"No, but it is in Sunnydale," Giles said.

"Where?" Rachel asked.

"It's in the same tomb the vampire raided to find that item they stole," he replied.

"Buffy, take Angel and Spike and get it now. Jill and I will get the supplies we already know we'll need," Rachel said facing the blond slayer.

Buffy frowned somewhat at the commanding tone of the woman, but nodded anyway and walked out of the Magic Box, followed by the two vampires.

"Faith, I think you'd better try and meditate and prepare yourself. This isn't going to be easy," Rachel told the brunette. She nodded, took one more look at Xander's prone form and went into the training room.  
17\. Chapter 17  
Chapter 17

Buffy walked into the tomb slowly, making sure no one, especially not any of Valnon's followers, was already inside. She hoped for Xander and Tara' sake that the book they wanted had not already been taken. Angel followed her in while Spike stayed outside to keep an eye out for anyone following them. "So where do we start? In the guy's tomb or in one of these metal boxes they have in the wall?" Angel asked.

"I think the tomb has already been sacked," Buffy said, pointing to the open tomb in the middle of the room. "I'd try the boxes," she added. Angel nodded and began using his enhanced strength to pull the boxes open, as Buffy did the same on the other side of the tomb.

+++

Tara looked around the cold damp place where she was held. It was the old factory where Spike had once held Willow and an unconscious Xander. Buffy and Angel had also had a fight with a few of Valnon's followers here as well at the beginning of this mess. The only good thing that happened was the fact that Valnon had chosen the wrong vampire to resurrect.

The Master did not like being the one given orders. He wanted to be the one giving orders and so that would hopefully buy them some time, at least for her friends to put a stop to whatever had happened to Xander and to cut off her link to him. The question was, could she stay alive long enough for Xander and her friends to rescue her? She once again tried to use her link to contact Xander, although she knew it was hopeless as, for the minute, Xander was unreachable.

She felt the darkness and the pain coming from it, but that was all. She feared for him more than she had for anyone else in her entire life and if he did die how would she deal with it? She loved him. She was sure of it. No matter how it came about she was in love with Xander and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She felt her heart begin to beat faster as she realized what it was she had just thought: She was in love with Xander. What about her feelings for Willow? She shook her head and tried to focus her thoughts, but all she could do was repeat the truth that was in her heart.

+++

Buffy returned to the magic shop with Angel and Spike looking somewhat beat up, however Giles noted Buffy was carrying a large and heavy looking book and it also looked quite old. "Did you get it?" Giles asked. "Yeah, but on our way out we ran into a few of Valnon's demon's," Buffy replied, sitting down next to Willow.

"Give me the book quickly, Xander is weakening fast," Rachel said hurriedly. Buffy handed her the book and watched as she sat in front of where Xander lay along with Jill and began looking through the pages. Faith was just exiting the training room looking more relaxed and more at ease than Buffy ever remembered her looking. Faith took a seat on the other side of Xander and just closed her eyes once again, concentrating on what she was about to do. "Giles, isn't this dangerous?" Buffy asked quietly.

"It can be, but it is the only way to wake Xander," Giles nodded in understanding of Buffy's question. "What Faith is doing takes considerable courage," Giles added, Buffy frowned at this, but kept quiet.

"Okay, we have all the ingredients and the spell necessary to send Faith into Xander's mind," Rachel informed them. "I want everyone to be quiet. I don't want any mistakes made or we may lose both, Xander and Faith," Giles told them all.

"Faith, are you ready?" Jill asked. "Yeah, I'm five by five," Faith said her voice unusually calm and collected. Her eyes, when they were open, were very intense and everyone had no doubt that she was very intent on saving Xander's life.

"Okay, take both of Xander's hands in yours and then lay your forehead against his," Rachel instructed her. Faith nodded and did as she was told. Holding Xander's hands tightly in hers, she leaned forward and placed her forehead against his, even though it was still very hot. "Okay, close your eyes tightly and block out everything except for Xander's heartbeat," Rachel told her. She managed to catch the heartbeat pretty fast.

"Got it," she said. "Okay, now just hold it," Rachel replied, she then turned to Jill and nodded.

Her daughter began mixing the ingredients and slowly began the chant form the book. Rachel then took the mixture and poured it over both Faith and Xander's joined heads, neither moved in reflex. Buffy wasn't surprised Xander didn't move as he was unconscious, but Faith did surprise her. She knew if she had been allowed to go she would have moved when that stuff was poured on her. Faith seemed more in control of herself these days and Buffy wondered whether this was due to Faith having her ancestor's memories or something she had picked up since she went to jail. A bright light surrounded Faith and Xander, bringing Buffy's thoughts back to what was going on in front of her. The light turned red and then blue and then faded. Jill's chant grew louder and then stopped suddenly.

"It is done. No one must touch them until they wake up themselves, if they make it," Rachel said, sounding very drained.

"Willow, you'd better do the location spell. This could take some time. With the arrival of the order we can at least rescue her and be ready for the final battle when Xander and Faith wake up again," Giles said, looking very worried for the boy and girl now joined on the floor.

+D+

Faith looked around what looked like a raging battlefield, she could see thousands of dead bodies and the air smelled like the bodies had been dead for a thousand years. She knew she was inside Xander's mind and yet this seemed very real to her.

"I knew you'd come," said a tired voice from behind her. She spun to find Xander kneeling in the middle of the field, his face was streaked with blood and he wore what looked like old style battle armor and he held a sword which seemed to glow with a gold light.

"Xander what the hell is going on here?" she asked as she knelt next to him. "I was attacked by some sort of spell. My mind comprehends it like a war. I've managed to hold on so far, but I'm weakening, Faith. The bodies you see are actually my mental defenses against the spell," Xander replied as he tried to stand, but fell down again. Faith managed to catch him.

"Well you just got some help," Faith said, as she looked around. "Thanks," he said, as she helped him stand. "Let's go to what my mind has created for my base," he said, as he slowly led her off the field.

+D+

Buffy was somewhat uneasy as Willow began casting her locator spell. First they had a gang of warriors from the order in the training room, trying to get Ethan to talk as their first assignment. Spike and Angel were keeping an eye on them. The fact that Xander and Faith were locked in some kind of trance was really getting to her and lastly she was fearful for Tara. She hoped the shy, young Witch was still alive.

+D+

Tara suddenly felt the workings of a spell in the air. It was Willow, she was sure of it. She was doing a locator spell to find her. They would be coming soon, but would Xander be with them? She still had no sense of him. The Master was finding as many normal vampires as he could. He planned to bring down the old one. Tara knew from Karan's memories, that Valnon was more powerful than the master and he would defeat the now resurrected vampire easily, but she needed the Master to try before her friends tried to save her and Xander. She decided to use Karan's memories to encourage the Master's plans. She hoped it would also help keep her alive a while longer while her friends came for her.

+D+

Xander was slumped in what looked like Faith's motel room when she first came to Sunnydale, that surprised her somewhat and she noticed Xander seemed a little nervous for brining her here. She watched as he tried to wash the blood of his face. "Xander, how many times has your mind fought this spell?" she asked while sitting across from him.

"Nine times so far and I can't keep it up Faith any longer, I'm losing. This spell is one of the most powerful black magic spells ever. It's ripping away my defenses and once it's done, it will wipe out my mind bit by bit until all that is left, is me. I'm basically my mind's control center and once it has me alone, it will rip through me and killing me instantly and you with me, if you are still in here," Xander told her.

"I won't leave you here, Xander," she said looking at him intently.

"Why the hell not?" asked another voice from behind her. She spun to find a second Xander standing there. This one looked like Xander had during the re-opening of the Hellmouth fight. She looked back to the other Xander to find he wouldn't meet her eyes. "Answer me Faith. Why won't you leave me here to die?" the other demanded and she faced him with a frown. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm the small part of Xander who likes you. The one who fucked you during the apocalypse deal, the one who felt devastated when you kicked me out of the room straight after," the second replied. This reply stunned Faith totally.

"The spell has split my personality into many different bits, it's why I'm losing so badly," the other Xander told her. "You'll find versions of me who loves Buffy and Willow somewhere around here as well," he added. "But the main ones you'll find is him, and the huge part of me that loves Tara," he finished as he struggled to stand.

"What does this one represent?" Faith asked hesitantly.

"He loves you," Xander said turning away from her.

Faith was too stunned to say a damn thing to either Xander. She looked back to the second Xander who was watching her with great curiosity. Xander had loved her during that whole thing. She shook her head as confusion began to set it. This wasn't the time to get confused. Xander's life was in her hands and so was her own.

"Xander, how do we defeat the spell?" she asked, trying to ignore how the second Xander watched her.

"We can't, unless I can pull myself together. I mean I have to get the other Xander's to rejoin the whole. That way I can put all my focus in fighting the spell's affect and hopefully win the war which is raging inside me," he informed her.

"So how do we do that?" she asked.

"I don't know. Each wants a different thing," he told her while slowly walking towards her.

"It's simple," the second Xander said to both and in response they looked at him strangely.

"Go on?" Faith asked.

"Each wants a simple answer," the other told her. "Answer to what question?" she asked stepping closer to him.

"For me the answer as to why he wouldn't allow my feelings for you to grow and from you the answer to why you kicked me out of the motel room," he told her fiercely.

"The answer is easy for me. If I had allowed your feelings to take control I would've followed Faith into the dark and doomed our friends and the world to hell," the first Xander told his double hotly.

"You don't know that. If we had managed to show Faith a little caring, maybe she wouldn't have been corrupted by the mayor," the second told them both. "None of us really showed her anything. We were too busy telling her how great Buffy was and how she should be more like Buffy and things like that. We failed her first and you know it," he added.

"It was a mistake, but the past is done and nothing we can do will change it," the first said with a shake of his head.

"But at least now you admit the mistake and that fact that you loved Faith," the second told him with a satisfied smile.

"I shouldn't have denied it in the first place, but I had to so I could save my friends," the first said slowly, before stepping back to allow Faith and his double some space. What she said was not for him to hear.

"Well Faith?" the second asked hopefully. "I never allowed my feelings out. I learned from experience that they were a weakness I couldn't afford. I lost my parents just after I was called. It almost destroyed me. I lost my friends and then my watcher. When I came to Sunnydale, I was on the brink of self-destruction until I met all of you. Although I never showed it, I cared for you all as friends. But the fact that you all were so hung up on Buffy, hurt. No matter what I did, you all seemed not to notice it and that made it worse. Willow never trusted me, and Giles always disapproved of my methods. Buffy was okay for a while, but too uptight," Faith said slowly. "You did show me some more care than the rest and you tried to help when you could. You shared my hate of Angel and his relationship with Buffy. I saw something in you, but I didn't want to see it get stronger. It scared me and I tried to discourage it," she added, glancing at the second Xander for a second before looking away. "The night we made love I wanted it to be more, but I got freaked afterwards. That's why I kicked you out and after I killed that guy and started my descent, I didn't want you to follow," she finished.

"Thank you," the second said with a smile. Faith looked back at him as he stepped forward and, before she could react, he kissed her hard. Once he released her, he walked over to where the first stood and held his hand out. The first grasped it and suddenly the second began to glow and then he vanished.

"That's one," the first said and to Faith he sounded stronger. She still was having a hard time believing what she had just witnessed and confessed. She tried to push these thoughts away for now. "Where do we find the others?" she asked.

"The White Knight will be on the field trying to save the world by himself," the first said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It's what Angel called me when I loved Buffy, because I kept trying to save her no matter what," he told her. He walked over to her, grabbed her hand and led her out of the room and suddenly they were on another battlefield. This one however was smaller and covered in ash and in the middle stood a third Xander. This one wore gold armor and held a long sword. He had multiple cuts on his face and half of his armor was covered in black dents. Before him was a perfect replica of Angel and Angelus, both separate and both distinctive. Behind them were at least fifty vampires.

"I thought you said he was trying to fight this on his own?" Faith asked. "He is. This part of my mind is how it views the spells attack," the first Xander explained.

"Well let's help," Faith said, suddenly finding a short sword in her hand.

"We'll have to so we can find out what he wants," the first said with a cold smile. They rushed forward, swords raised and they jumped into the fray behind the two versions of Angel, leaving them to the White knight version of Xander. Faith and the first Xander easily cut the vamps into pieces, losing themselves in the heat of the battle.

The third Xander smashed his sword into the version of Angelus before turning so quickly that the version of Angel couldn't even move and sliced him into two, turning him to ash. Angelus rammed his own fist into the third Xander and knocked him on his ass, leaving him open for a deathblow. Faith and the third Xander watched as Angelus went to drive his foot into the thirds face, but the white knight rolled away and jumped back to his feet. He rushed forward, driving his sword straight through Angelus and then he drove it upwards splitting the vampire in two as well. All three watched in satisfaction as the vamp turned to ash. The third then turned to Faith and the first Xander with a cold glare.

"What do you want?" he asked coldly.

"Don't take it seriously, he's mad at me," the first said.

"Damn right, you gave up on Buffy," the third said angrily.

"Had no choice, but to move on, she doesn't see us like that and she never will," the first said somewhat sadly.

"You turned your back on her," the third accused.

"I might have once or twice, but only because my anger at the way she treated me got the better of me," the first said.

"Answer me this, if she did fall for you now, what would you do?" the third asked, stepping closer to them.

"I don't think I would fall for her again. I love Tara. At least most of me does," the first told his double.

"Yet some of you still loves Faith and Willow," the third shot back. "And Buffy," the first admitted.

The third looked at him closely and then smiled. He placed his sword on the back of his armor and held his hand out. The first grasped it and like before, the double glowed and then vanished. Faith watched as the first seemed to grow stronger and his stance became more deadly. She couldn't believe all she was leaning about Xander. Everyone had thought he was a joker and yet inside he was very serious.

"Almost done, only one left and this one is going to be the hardest," the first said looking at Faith.

"Why?" she asked as once again the first Xander took her hand and led her away from the field.

"I never ever let my feelings for Willow out. I never told her I loved her and then I broke her heart twice. Once when she caught me kissing Cordelia and second when she found out me and you had slept together. I think that one was the most devastating for her," the first said very sadly.

"Why didn't you ever let me out?" a loud and very annoyed voice shouted from above them. They looked up to find a fourth Xander standing above them. This one was a much younger version of Xander, but the look on his face was very deadly and very angry. Faith never recalled seeing Xander looking so angry and for some reason it unnerved her

"I couldn't. It would have destroyed everything," the first said softly. "How?" this fourth version of Xander demanded to know. "Jessie loved her. He used Cordelia as his cover. He was going to tell her, but he got killed and I couldn't go behind his back. He was the only male friend I had, hell he was like a brother to me," the first shot back. "I held back for him. I know I hurt her by ignoring how she felt, but I didn't want to betray him. Then, when he died, for some reason I still couldn't tell her. Then the fluke happened and I thought at last we'd be together, but it all went wrong and I still couldn't tell her the truth of my feelings," the first added.

"Why?" the other said jumping down toward them. "I don't know, maybe I was scared. Maybe it was the fact that part of me had fallen for Buffy. I just don't know," the first said. "No, that's not true. I know why," he said turning away. "I see Willow as my sister. The one person I can always trust, the one person I know will always be there," the first admitted. "She's everything I ever wanted to be, strong-willed, smart and loyal to a fault. For some reason, I failed in almost all of these aspects, but still she holds me steady and keeps me on the path. She is the reason I fight so hard. If she died then I'd die," he said facing his double.

"And Tara?" a fifth version asked appearing next to Faith.

"She is my heart. I would do anything to save her even give my life for her," he answered with a confident smile.

"You would do that for any of your friends," the fifth said.

"True, but for Tara I would go that little bit extra. I would push myself to the breaking point. I would give my soul to save hers," the first said.

The fourth and fifth versions of Xander nodded and both held their hands out. The first smiled and took both hands and the doubles glowed and then vanished. The first Xander glowed too for a few minutes before it faded.

"It's done, I'm complete again," the first said with a broad smile. Suddenly, they were back on the first battlefield, except this time they were surrounded by dozens of old style warriors. Faith even noticed doubles of Buffy and the others including her leading the charge.

"Ready?" Xander asked as he raised his own sword that glowed with a very bright and strong light.

"Yeah," Faith nodded, raising her own sword and followed Xander as they charged into thousands of vampires, which Xander's mind had used to represent the spells effect.

The battle was short as Xander was at his best. His strength regained and his defenses repaired. The images of his friends swept left and fight and destroyed the vamps faster than the eye could see. Faith reveled in the battle as she helped her friend break the spell holding them here. Once it was done, both stood in the middle of the field, alone.

"It's done, I'm beginning to wake up," Xander told her. "Thanks Faith, I owe you my life," he said facing her.

"Glad I could help," she smiled at him. He bent down and quickly kissed her one last time, before a white flash blinded them both.  
18\. Chapter 18  
Chapter 18

Buffy almost jumped when Faith and Xander both jerked awake, both seemed tired and confused but they were awake. "Giles, Rachel they're awake," she yelled.

Everyone except the warriors from the order ran over to where Xander and Faith sat on the floor. Rachel and Jill seemed the most relieved to see them awake

"You did it, Faith," Giles exclaimed. "Was there any doubt G-man? She's a slayer," Xander said while standing up. He then helped Faith up as well.

"We know where Tara is being held," Gunn told them. "Form up, we're going to rescue her," Xander said fiercely.

"But you just recovered from a dark spell. You can't rush off into a fight now," Wesley said.

"He has to do this Wes. Don't get in his way, we go now," Faith said, knowing nothing would stop Xander from rescuing the girl he loved and she wasn't going to let him go alone.

"Very well, Spike, get the warriors from the order ready. We're going to rescue Tara," Giles nodded, noticing the look in both Xander's and Faith's eyes letting him know nothing would convince them to stay.

Xander held a long sword as they headed to the factory where Tara was being held. They didn't know which vampire Valnon had resurrected to aid him, but at the moment he didn't care. All Xander cared about was saving Tara's life. Faith now understood him better than anyone ever had, including Willow. That was why she had agreed they should go now as Xander had said. She knew now what drove him to fight the darkness. Why he went so far to help his friends. Why he pushed himself so hard and although she also now knew a part of him loved her, she also knew Tara was the girl who held his heart.

Spike and Angel were walking with the warriors from the order just to make sure none of them tried anything. Faith and Buffy were behind them brining up the rear. Giles was in the middle, along with Willow, Wesley, Gunn, Major Johnson and his team. Each of them looked somewhat nervous, but otherwise intent on their mission. They quickly made it to the factory and made a quick check to make sure no one could see them. Xander looked at his watch and noticed it was two-thirty. They still had the advantage of the daylight. He looked at Giles and Wesley and knew they would come up with the best way to attack.

"Okay Giles, which way would be best?" Xander asked.

"We should split up. You, Faith, Angel and three of the order should take the back. Buffy, Willow, Spike and four of the order should take the front and the rest of us should use the fire escape on the roof," Giles said as he removed his glasses and prepared for the fight ahead.

"Okay, be careful and don't take any unnecessary risks. We can't afford to lose anyone else," Wesley added. Everybody nodded and split up into their teams.

Xander led Faith, Angel and the three members from the order to the back of the building, making sure not to pass any windows. He could feel his heart beat faster as his anticipation increased. They had to be careful here, one mistake could cost Tara her life and maybe some of their own. As he reached the door, he looked back to where his team waited.

"Angel, you should go first to make sure it's clear and just in case they have any sort of device that detects humans," Xander said to the ensouled vampire.

"No problem," Angel replied. Although he felt some anger at Xander's tone, he knew Xander's mind was on something else and so he didn't say anything about it.

He slowly tested the door and was relieved to find it wasn't locked. He entered and quickly looked around, but didn't see anyone guarding the back entrance. This confused him somewhat. Nearly every vampire lord he knew kept some of his underlings on guard at every entrance point. He stuck his head out of the door and motioned for the others to enter. Xander made a quick scan of the area and moved forward. Angel was surprised at the way Xander was moving and acting. He wondered just how far the memories of his ancestor affected the man and if they would vanish once this was over.

"Seems clear," Xander mused. "We're going to have to be very quiet. We better split up and go down different sides," he added. "Why?" Angel asked.

"Because then there won't be that much of a chance that we'll be seen," Xander shot back. "You take the three guys from the order and go down the right side. Faith and I will take the left and stay behind the debris," Xander added as he turned and walked slowly away with Faith close behind him. Angel stayed where he was for a few seconds before nodding to the warriors behind him and so he walked toward the right side, making sure to keep an eye out for any vampires.

+D+

Tara smiled when she felt Xander's presence wash over her; he was awake and very much alive. She also sensed something had happened to heal him completely. She no longer sensed any of the pain he usually carried. He had faced his pain she realized and now he was coming for her. The only thing that dampened her happiness was the fact that she also sensed Willow was with him. She suddenly noticed the Master enter the room she was kept in. He was smiling as he approached her and she quickly hid any positive feelings she was showing now that she knew she was almost safe.

"The old one has ordered me to kill you now," the Master told her. She almost cried at the thought she would die with Xander so close to her. "But I won't yet. You have been very helpful in using your knowledge of Valnon to aid my plan. Although I know you do this to stay alive longer so your friends can rescue you," the Master added. "If they do find you, they will be killed and you will die after them," he finished before leaving the room.

Tara tried to keep her calm and not allow any fear to creep into her. She had complete confidence in Xander and the others to free her and destroy the Master again.

+D+

Faith was impressed at the way Xander was making his way through the burnt-out factory and the way he had split up his team to improve their chances of success. It was as if he was someone completely different. She knew he had the memories of his ancestor just like she had Buffy's ancestor's memories, but she hadn't been as affected by them as he had. He was acting almost like a soldier and then she remembered what Buffy had told her about the Halloween incident and how he had basically become a soldier. She wondered if somehow he still had the memories from that event, then she called upon what she had just learned about Xander and she knew that he would use anything to save his friends and the woman he loved, so in the end it didn't really matter. She shook her head and cleared her thoughts as she followed Xander deeper into the factory. When he suddenly stopped, she peered over his shoulder to see why and froze instantly. Nearly twenty vampires were standing in the large room they were in. The only thing that made her feel relaxed was that these vampires didn't have any tattoos or claws, which meant that they were not followers of Valnon. She looked across the room to where Angel and the three warriors from the order were crouched; each looked ready to rush into the room, but she was glad they were holding back for now.

"Okay what's the plan, Xand?" she asked quietly.

"I'm going to throw a fire ball at them, but it will take a lot out of me. You'll have to stay close to me and kill any of the survivors," he answered, giving her a quick glance.

"No problem," she nodded. She noticed Angel watching them and she knew he understood they were making the first move.

She watched as Xander closed his eyes and began chanting in what she believed was Latin. She then noticed a small ball of fire appear before him. She looked to the where the vampires stood, but they hadn't noticed them yet. She pulled out a stake and the dagger she had taken from Giles's weapon's locker and prepared herself for the fight ahead. The ball increased its size suddenly and then shot into the middle of the vamps, setting nine of them on fire and quickly disintegrated them. Xander fell backward, but she caught him and leaned him against the wall as the remaining vampires walked towards them, just as Angel and the three Taraka warriors jumped out of their cover.

Angel slammed into the two leading vampires as the warriors behind him hit the three to the left and Faith made her way to the two on the right. Angel had guessed Xander would use his inherited powers to take care of the main group. He just hoped he recovered fast enough to help them.

Xander pushed himself to his feet and looked to where Faith and the others were fighting the remaining vamps. It was obvious to him they were outnumbered. He raised his sword weakly and ran toward where Faith was somehow holding of three vampires by herself.

Xander raised his sword ignoring the way his arms felt weak and rammed it into the first of the vampires near Faith. It howled in agony as he jammed his sword forward even more and then pulled it back and swung hard, decapitating it before it could react.

"Nice timing, Xand," Faith said with a smile as she jump kicked the second while throwing her dagger at the third which hit it squally in the chest

Xander moved forward and slammed his fist into the vampire's face and then brought his knee up into its wounded chest before pulling Faith's dagger out of it and thrusting it into the vamps head as he grabbed the vamp and twisted hard breaking its neck. He watched in satisfaction as it disintegrated. Faith used her stake to dust the second vamp, but as she turned to help Angel and the three warriors from the order, she heard a loud groan and a grunt from behind her. She turned to find Xander slumped on the ground with a tall lanky vampire standing above him about to drive her dagger into his back. She felt a huge swirl of adrenalin rush through her and she tackled the vamp, knocking the dagger flying. They landed on the ground hard, but Faith recovered fast as she staked the vamp before it could rise up again. She grabbed the dagger and rushed over to where Xander was weakly pushing himself to his feet.

"You okay?" she asked as she knelt at his side.

"Yeah, just winded. Go help Angel, I'll be there in a few moments," he said with a smile. She nodded and reluctantly left him to help Angel.

Buffy ducked the wide swing from the vampire she was currently fighting and dropped to a crouch and swept the vamps legs from under him. As the vamp fell on its back, she staked it quickly and then took a look around to see Willow and Spike finish off the two remaining vamps that had attacked them. They had lost one of the warriors from the order, but the other three were still standing.

"Which way?" Willow asked.

"This way I think," Buffy said, hoping the others hadn't encountered this much trouble as she walked forward.

Giles shook his head as the warrior in front of him used his sword to behead the vamp that had jumped them along with seven others on the roof. They had almost broken through, but five more had shown up to help. Finally they had managed to kill most of them only losing two of the Taraka warriors and Gunn had been badly wounded. Major Johnson and his men were securing the roof just in case they needed to escape through here.

"Gunn, you'd better stay here," he told Gunn as they approached the hatch that led into the factory. "No problem," Gunn replied in a bitter tone.

"Let's go," Giles said to the others as he opened the hatch.

Faith landed next to Xander's knee. As she tried to push herself back to her feet, she felt a hand push her back down and Xander spoke.

"Stay down. Regain your strength, I'll help finish them off," he told her. She nodded as she watched him. As he stood, she noted he was still weak, but he seemed to be ignoring it, that impressed her greatly.

He rushed the vampire that had been fighting Angel and knocked it into the wall. Before he could strike again, one of the warriors slammed an axe into the vamp cutting it in half.

"Xander," he heard Angel shout out from behind. He turned just in time to block a vampire's thrust with a sword. He stepped backward and waited as the vamp tried another fast strike. Xander quickly blocked it then turned left and struck out, cutting the vamp in half from just below the neck; he smiled as it disintegrated. He looked around and noticed the remaining vamps had been killed. He was glad they hadn't lost any of the hired warriors. He walked over to Faith and helped her back to her feet. He handed her the sword the vamp had been using.

"Cool," she said as she tested its weight.

"Xander!" Tara's cry suddenly echoed through his head as if she had been standing right beside him.

"What?" Faith asked catching the way Xander's face turned grim.

"It's Tara, she's in trouble. We've gotta move now," he said as he turned and rushed forward. Quickly forgetting the weakness he still felt in his legs. The danger Tara was still in overrode everything else in his mind. Faith and the others quickly followed him, not bothering to question how Xander knew where he was going and how he knew Tara was in deeper trouble.  
19\. Chapter 19  
Chapter 19

Tara was only holding the Master back with a magic field she had managed to remember, but she was weakening fast and she knew that if Xander didn't get here soon, she was done for.

"You," two voices suddenly cried out at the same time.

They both turned to see Xander standing on one side of the room and Buffy on the other, both gaping at the sight of the Master being back once more.

"Slayer," the Master hissed, stepping away from Tara and then turning to where Xander stood. "And you're the reason she came back after I killed her, sorcerer," he said.

"That's right, and now I'm going to send you back to hell. Only this time, there will be no return ticket," Xander replied raising his sword.

"No Xander, this is my fight," Buffy said with great determination, as she remembered how messed up she had been after she had been killed. Xander looked about ready to argue with her when Giles, Wesley and the rest of his team entered the room, trying to fight off the last of the Master's followers.

"Okay Buff, you win," he said as he rushed in to help the two retired watchers. Faith, Angel and the three warriors followed.

Buffy slowly made her way down the stairs toward the Master. Every step bringing a memory of her last battle with this undead king back to her, she brought out her stake and dropped into a fighting stance. The Master followed suit and both were glaring at the other with unhidden hate. Willow and Spike rushed past them to release Tara who finally dropped the magic field as she realized that she was safe.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked trying to keep her voice even.

"Y-yeah," she replied as Spike broke the chains that held her in place. Her eyes instantly searched for Xander and found him, kneeling on the floor, trying to cover a cut he had in his side. Faith was covering him. She then looked to where Buffy was now fighting the Master and saw that she already had three cuts on her arm and face, but her face showed she was determined to kill this monster.

"Willow, Spike, get Tara back to the Magic Box now! Take half of the warriors with you, use the roof exit; Gunn and the others are waiting there," Giles called out to them as he staked a rather large vampire.

"But-," Willow tried to argue.

"Willow, do it!" he shouted back and Willow knew Giles's Ripper persona was now in full control. She nodded and then rushed over to where seven of the warriors waited to enter the fight. Spike followed, basically dragging Tara with him.

"You two stay here, the rest are with us," Willow said.

"I won't leave him," Tara said sternly.

'Tara, go.' Xander's voice floated into her mind. She looked back and caught Xander's eye for a fleeting moment before he vanished back into the fight.

"Tara, we have to go now," Willow said. Tara just nodded and followed them out.

Buffy struck out as hard as she could and caught the Master in the side with a fist. She tried to follow up with a back kick, but the Master quickly recovered and slammed his elbow into her leg and then backhanded her, sending her flying backward into part of the stone building.

Xander noticed Buffy wasn't doing very well and rushed forward, ramming the tip of his sword into the back of the Master's head, stunning him. Buffy used his distraction to jump back to her feet and grabbed the stake she had dropped. Xander nodded, knowing this had to be Buffy's kill. He turned and noticed two vamps creeping up on Faith and so he rushed toward her as fast as he could and impaled both vamps with his sword.

"Faith, quick," he shouted. She turned and noticed the two impaled vamps and staked both of them.

"Nice work, Xand," she said, somewhat out of breath. He nodded and noticed the last few vamps were trying to run, but were quickly caught by the warriors and beheaded.

Everyone turned to see Buffy kick the Master in his leg, snapping it. He fell to one knee trying to keep his defense up, but Buffy was relentless and kicked him in the head, sending him backward. As she walked over to stake him, he smiled at them all. "You'll never defeat the old one, sorcerer. He has altered your prophecy so only he can win," the Master said.

"We will win," Xander said with fierce determination as Buffy staked the Master and watched in satisfaction as he was turned to dust.

"That was tiring," Wesley said.

"The next fight will be ten times as worse," Xander said as he turned and began to leave.

"But we'll be more prepared for that," Giles said as he and the others followed. "I'll make sure of it," he added to himself.

Tara looked up as the door to the Magic Shop opened and Buffy entered, quickly followed by the others. She had to use every bit of will power to stop herself from running into Xander's arms and to kiss him hard. She knew Willow was still hurt by what was happening between her and Xander and having her flaunt it in her face wouldn't help the situation. Xander sat down next to Faith, who began to check the wound he had in his side. Buffy sat next to Giles, who was wiping his glasses and Angel and Major Johnson were placing the injured Gunn on the nearby table, while Wesley led the surviving warriors from the order back into the training room.

"So now what?" Buffy asked.

"We prepare for the final confrontation with Valnon," Xander said in a tired, but dark tone.

"But we must prepare first," Giles argued.

"There is no time left, Giles. We have to strike now," Xander said fiercely.

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Because he can use the items he stole to raise another vamp or demon to distract us or he can cast more spells on us. We can't take the chance that he will do that. Some of us might not survive next time. We have to strike while we are all here and in good shape," Xander answered hotly.

"What about what the Master said, about him changing the prophecy?" Wesley asked.

"Yes, is that possible?" Giles asked.

"It is if you are as powerful as Valnon is, but he forgets that I have the memories of the man who created it, which means I know everything we need to win," Xander said, although, to the others, his voice sounded deeper and stronger.

"My god," Rachel gasped.

"What is it?" Willow asked.

"He has accepted the memories so fully, that he's beginning to sound like Robert," Rachel explained, fighting her shock.

"Giles, we're gonna need as many of the most powerful weapons as you have," Xander said facing the watcher. Giles nodded in understanding and gathered some of Major Johnson's men to help go to his house and collect them.

"Jill, Rachel, I need you to work with Willow and Tara and help them find the hidden parts of their magical talents. Also help Tara accept Karan's memories. We're going to need them," Xander spoke again, his voice seeming to grow stronger. Rachel and Jill nodded and led Tara and Willow into the training room.

"Major Johnson, we're also going to need some explosives," Xander said, facing the tall Major who was standing next to Graham.

"I think we have some in the helicopter, but it's across town," the Major replied.

"Take Graham and some of the Teraka warriors with you and watch your back," Xander said. The Major nodded in answer and entered the training room to collect some of the warriors.

"Xander, are you okay?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, I'm just getting us ready," he replied with a small smile.

"Anything else we'll need?" Wesley asked.

"Some of the most powerful spell books Giles has. Have Cordelia, Fred and Doyle help find them, they're kept at the top of the stairs," Xander answered. Wesley nodded and led the three up the stairs.

"What about us?" Angel asked, indicating at himself and Spike.

"Take a break and get some of your strength back. We're gonna need it. The same goes for Buffy and Faith," Xander said in answer. The four nodded and split up, only Faith stayed where she was.

"What's up Faith?" he asked, facing the brunette slayer.

"I just wanted to know what you're gonna do?" she asked.

"I'm going to meditate and focus my power for this final battle," he answered. "It's going to be very bad," he added.

"I know," she said with a smile before walking over to Buffy. Xander smiled and then sat down on the couch and closed his eyes and concentrated.

Tara had her eyes closed and was concentrating on Karan and the memories she had in her head. She suddenly felt a surge of warmth go through her as Xander's presence washed over her. It was obvious he was trying to concentrate, but it seemed his feelings for her were overpowering him. It surprised her and yet made her feel safe and cared for. She managed to block of their connection as her own memories began to surface and she began to see images of Karan and Robert. She focused harder and was astonished to find she suddenly knew hundreds of spells, powerful ones she had never known before.

+D+

Whistler walked through the door without even knocking. He had been trying to find any extra information on Valnon the others could use against him, but all he had found was that the power his followers had was from an amulet Valnon had created to extend his own powers. If they destroyed it, then his followers would be normal vampires.

"Hey," he called as he closed the doors.

"Quite, Xander's trying to concentrate," Faith said from the counter.

"Sorry," the balance demon replied as he walked over to them.

"So, where have you been?" Buffy asked.

"Trying to find any info on Valnon," he replied, while removing his hat.

"And?" Faith inquired.

"Valnon created an amulet that amplifies his powers. It's what makes his followers stronger and lets them use magic," he informed them.

"So, if we destroy it, his followers will be normal vamps making it easier for us to stake them," Buffy said with a smile.

"Exactly," Whistler responded.

"Don't suppose you know where he keeps it, do you?" Angel asked as he walked over. "It's rumored he keeps it on a chain around his neck," Whistler replied. "Great, that means we have to get close to him," Spike muttered. "Not necessarily, we could throw something at it," Faith suggested. "It's worth a shot," Buffy nodded in agreement.

The door to the magic shop opened and Giles walked in, followed by the men he had taken with him. Each was carrying a number of bags filled with weapons that they dumped on the table.

"Any trouble?" Buffy asked.

"No, we didn't see anything. It seems that he may be gathering his followers to counter our attack," Giles replied as he sat down.

The door opened again and Major Johnson walked in, followed by Graham and the members of the Order they taken with them. Graham was carrying a bag which they guessed the explosives were in. He placed it on the table where the weapons were and then joined the others.

"So now what?" the Major asked. "We wait until the others are ready," Buffy replied.  
20\. Chapter 20  
Chapter 20

Xander's mind was flooded by images of Karan and Tara and then he drew out the knowledge Robert had of the most dangerous spells known to man. He opened his eyes to find Faith watching him. He smiled and nodded as he stood and then walked over to the others.

"Everything you asked for is over on the table," Giles told him.

"Good, now once Tara and the others are ready everyone can select the weapons they want. Giles, you and Wesley take the books Cordelia, Fred and Doyle found and keep them close, they're gonna be needed," Xander told him. The two former watchers nodded. "Graham, select three of your men and distribute the explosives," he added facing the commando.

The door to the training room opened and Jill walked out followed by Rachel, Willow and finally Tara, everyone watched them carefully.

"Did you manage to do it?" Xander inquired.

"Yes, Tara has full access to Karan's memories and they have both managed to gain full control of their magical talents," Rachel replied sitting across from Xander.

"Then we're ready," Xander said quietly. "Everyone select your weapons, Spike get the Teraka warriors in here as well," he said to the others.

Everyone moved to the table where the weapons were now spread out. Xander himself grabbed the long sword and a large axe. Tara grabbed a sword for herself and a couple of stakes. As Rachel and Jill went for some weapons of their own, Xander turned to them in confusion.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"We're coming too, our lives have been dominated by Robert's prophecy and now we will see the end of it," Rachel said fiercely. Xander seemed doubtful, but nodded anyway, knowing they had every right to fight.

Faith quickly noticed the knife Buffy had used to stab her during her stint with the mayor and quickly grabbed it, knowing it would come in handy. She then grabbed an axe and a short sword. Once everyone was armed and ready Xander took the lead and led them out of the Magic Box, leaving only Whistler in the store.

"Good luck," he said once they were gone.

They headed silently to the caves where they knew Valnon and his followers were hiding. Behind them, Urial followed, hoping the sorcerer would manage to defeat the old one and bring balance back to the fight. Faith walked next to Buffy, wondering just how much trouble they were about to get into. It was obvious to her none of them had faced an old one before, so none of them knew what to expect, except the fact that Angel and Spike seemed to fear the prospect of battling an old one. She looked to where Xander was walking next to Tara and she quickly noticed their hands were joined and she smiled, hoping this would end quickly.

Willow had also noticed the fact that her girlfriend and her best friend were holding hands like they had done it a thousand times before. Her heart ached at the sight, but she couldn't hate them for it. She wondered what will happen if they managed to win this battle, how their feelings would be affected. She wondered if everything would go back to normal or not.

Xander dropped to a crouch along with Tara as he approached the caves and waited for the others to join him. He noticed the three guards outside the cave. Each had the green eyes and claws marking them as Valnon's followers.

"So how do you want to take them?" Spike asked.

"From three different directions, Spike you take the one on the left, Angel the one on the right, I'll take the one in the middle. As soon as we rush them, the rest of you follow and help us stake them before they can alert the others," Xander said, using the memories of the Halloween incident when he was turned into a soldier to plan the attack. The others nodded in silent agreement. Spike and Angel quickly made their way to the sides of the woods they were in so they could strike fast. Xander let go of Tara's hand that so far he had refused to do, grabbed his sword and then nodded to the two vampires.

All three rushed forward at the same time surprising the vampires. Angel slammed into the first vamp knocking him to the ground, while Spike and Xander both impaled their vamps with their swords. Buffy and Faith quickly ran forward along with the others and staked the two vamps Xander and Spike had impaled. Angel was knocked of the first vamp that quickly got to its feet and turned toward the cave, but Giles was faster and beheaded it before it could run.

"Okay from here on we have to be very quiet," Xander said as they faced the entrance. "First we have to make sure they won't sense us," he added.

"How?" Wesley inquired

"Tara," Xander said. The blonde witch nodded and began chanting one of the spells Karan's memories had given her. A bright green mist began to appear around them all, including the Terakan warriors. Most of them stared at Tara in amazement, including Willow, while the rest seemed uneasy. The mist soon turned white and then faded. Xander smiled at Tara and nodded, he then faced the others.

"That spell will make sure the vamps won't sense us, but as soon as we get close to Valnon he will know," he explained to them.

"Hopefully we won't run into too much trouble," Giles said as he followed the others into the cave.

+D+

Xander slammed his fist into the vampire's face as Faith swept its legs from under it and then staked it as the others kept an eye out.

"So far so good," Buffy said as she looked back to them.

"Don't jinx it Buffy," Xander warned her as he and Faith joined them.

"So, which way?" Gunn asked as he hefted his axe.

"This way, I can feel Valnon's presence close by," Tara answered, although, like Xander's, her voice sounded somewhat different now. It sounded more confident and powerful than before.

Xander and Tara took the lead as they turned right and headed deeper into the caves. Faith and Gunn took up the rear as they moved on. Tara suddenly jerked back as a black sphere appeared before them. Xander raised his hand instantly and a blue shield appeared before them.

"What is it?" Giles inquired.

"One of Valnon's seeker's, it can send out multiple magical attacks," Xander answered.

"I thought you said that spell Tara did would keep him from knowing we were here?" Angel asked.

"It has, the seekers are always close to where Valnon is. Rachel, Jill, can you come up with a spell to destroy it?" Xander asked.

"Give us a few moments," Rachel shot back turning to her daughter.

"Hurry, the longer we remain here the more we risk being surrounded," Xander replied.

Xander focused more of his power on the shield, in case the seeker tried to break through. Rachel grabbed one of the books Giles was carrying and quickly prepared a spell to destroy the seeker, while Jill prepared a teleportation spell in case her mother failed to destroy it. Once they were finished, they both nodded to each other and approached Xander and Tara, chanting silently.

"Now," Rachel shouted.

Xander dropped the shield protecting them as Rachel sent a massive ball of flame at the seeker. As soon as it struck, the magical device turned black and vanished. Jill kept an eye on the space the seeker had been, just in case it had some sort of cloak spell on it like Valnon's followers had.

"Okay, let's go quickly," Buffy said, taking a quick look both ways, the others nodded and followed Tara and Xander.

They moved silently through the caves only encountering two more vampires along the way, which were quickly disposed of by Faith and Xander. Finally they entered a huge chamber that had at least thirty of Valnon's followers in it, along with at least twenty demons. At the head of them all, sitting on a huge chair of gold and silver, was a huge demon with a horn in its forehead, its eyes glowed black and green. Its hands had massive claws on them and they could all see at least three or four different amulets pinned to its chest. They also noticed it had a black field surrounding it.

"So sorcerer, you have come at last," the demon said. Its voice was quite loud and seemed to be filled with pure hate.

"It's time to finish this," Xander replied, his voice becoming loud and strong.

"I agree and once I have crushed you and your friends, I will rule Earth," Valnon replied with a cold smile. It raised its hand once and suddenly Xander found himself on the floor, clutching his head. He turned to find Buffy in a fighting stance, her eyes were flashing red and suddenly he remembered the dream he had when he was knocked out.

"Your prophecy will fail sorcerer, because I have control over your slayer," Valnon hissed.

"Faith, keep her busy, but do not kill her," Xander shouted out to the dark slayer, who just nodded in response, moving to engage her sister slayer.

Xander turned back to where Valnon sat, wearing a triumphant smile. He stood up quickly and launched a fireball into the vampires closest to him, turning three of them to ash. This was the signal and the others all rushed in to engage them.

Spike and Angel led the warriors from the Order of Teraka at the demons, before they could react. Xander raised his sword and ran towards Tara who was busy fighting of one of Valnon's followers. He knew Valnon would pull some sort of trick, but he had not expected this. He had forgotten the dream of the shadow putting a spell on Buffy when she was asleep and it could cost them dear, but Valnon had no idea Faith was a slayer as well and she had the memories of Jenna and that evened things out. He had to get to Tara, because only she could free Buffy from Valnon's grasp. Faith jumped back to her feet after Buffy had managed to land a hard spin kick on her. She had no wish to fight Buffy again, but she had no choice. It was obvious to her that Valnon had taken Buffy under his control so that she would kill Xander, knowing he would not hurt her, no matter what. She hoped Xander would be able to either kill Valnon or break the spell quickly.

Tara ducked the punch from the vampire and quickly blasted it with a fire spell. She turned to see Valnon tracking Xander's movements as he fought a rather tall vampire that was wearing armor. She knew he would attack, while Xander was distracted. She quickly cast a shield around her love and then moved to help Jill, who was struggling with a very vicious vamp. Gunn screamed as the vampire he was fighting rammed its claws into his side. He tried to pull them out, but the vamp just snarled and pushed them deeper. He saw Fred and Wesley trying to reach him, but before they could move a second vampire approached him and slit his throat with his sword. Gunn barely heard Fred's scream of horror before he fell to the ground dead.

Major Johnson slammed the stake hard into the vampire's chest he was fighting and watched in satisfaction as it turned to dust, but as he turned around to engage another, he felt two sets of claws being rammed into him. He turned to see a vampire behind him smiling coldly before it burst into dust, revealing Graham standing behind him. Johnson fell to his knees as Graham rushed to his side and laid him on the ground.

"Take command," Johnson ordered before he fell unconscious. Graham checked his pulse and was relieved to find he still had one, although it was very weak.

Xander ducked the blow from the big vamp and managed to land a spin kick, knocking it of its feet. He grabbed a stake and tried to ram it into the vampire's heart, but the vamp managed to grab his hand and twist it, making him drop the stake. Xander smashed his free hand into the vampire's face as it tried to stand and then quickly kicked it in its knee, hearing a splintering noise as he did so. He smiled as the vamp howled in pain then used his axe to take the things head off. As he turned to run toward Tara one of the demons broke free from where it was fighting Spike and headed straight for him. He ducked its swipe and swung his axe backward, catching the demon in its back. He quickly grabbed his sword and swung high, decapitating the demon before it could strike. He smiled grimly as he noticed Faith being knocked down by Buffy again and quickly made his way to Tara, who was helping Jill and Rachel deal with two of Valnon's followers. He rammed his sword into the back of one of the vampires, allowing Jill to ram her stake into its heart, turning it to dust. The distraction also allowed Tara and Rachel to fire a fireball at the other vamp, dusting it as well.

"You have to break the spell on Buffy quickly," Xander shouted to Tara as Rachel fired of a rather large fireball into a group of approaching demons, killing two of them and setting the last one on fire, which Spike quickly killed with his axe

"It may take some time, it depends on what sort of spell it is," Tara told him.

"It'll be a very powerful spell, try the Black Book of Calnar. Wesley has it," Xander told her as he rushed forward to engage two of Valnon's vamps.

Tara nodded and rushed over to where Wesley was tending to Major Johnson. She grabbed the bag he was carrying and quickly found the book and began searching for the counter to Valnon's spell. Fred and Graham were covering them as best they could. As they turned to fend off one of the remaining vampires, one of the demons came up behind them and grabbed Fred and quickly snapped her neck before anyone could call out a warning.

Angel cried out in rage and quickly charged the demon that was now trying to attack Tara and Wesley. Luckily Tara had managed to get a shield up around them. Angel rammed his elbow into the demon's face and quickly brought his knee up into its stomach. The demon quickly recovered and back handed him across the face sending the ensouled vampire flying into Giles as he ran to help. Both quickly recovered and ran forward again. The demon tried to ram its claws into Giles, but he managed to dodge the swing as Angel drove his knee into the demon's groin and then rammed his elbow into its back. Giles quickly raised his battle axe and took its head clean off, covering himself and Angel in black slime.

"I've found the counter spell. I need two of you to keep an eye out, 'cause once I start the spell, I won't be able to sense anything else or cast any spells," Tara told them.

"Get to work, we'll stand watch," Giles told her.

Angel held his sword ready and just managed to deflect the claws of the last of Valnon's vampires. He tried to counter, but the vampire was faster and rammed its claws into Angel's chest. Giles quickly swung his axe into the vamp's back and Wesley rushed from where he was and staked it. Angel fell to his knees trying to stay conscious as Xander and Willow ran over to them, both bleeding from multiple cuts and lacerations. Spike and the remaining members of the order fell back as well, as the leftover demons scattered. Doyle helped a wounded Cordelia to them as well, while Jill, Rachel and a bloody Oz covered their retreat.

"Do the spell quickly," Xander shouted as Valnon just stood there, wearing a vicious smile.

Faith managed to land a solid blow to Buffy's solar plexus winding her and took a few quick breaths as Buffy advanced again. Faith dropped into a defensive stance and prepared to engage her sister slayer again.

"Sorcerer," Valnon shouted.

All but Tara, Faith and Buffy turned to where the demon now stood. Xander froze when he saw Dawn and Anya being held by four of Valnon's vampires.

"I have taken every step to ensure my victory. Surrender now or I will order their deaths," Valnon sneered.  
21\. Chapter 21  
Chapter 21

"What do we do now?" asked Willow.

"Prepare a teleportation spell, quickly," Xander said quietly.

Willow nodded and began chanting softly, as did Jill who stood to Xander's left. Xander looked back to where Faith was fighting Buffy and was glad to see that she had Buffy on her knees. He then looked to where Tara was kneeling, surrounded by black and purple strands of magic. Her hair was flying about wildly and her body was shaking badly. He looked back to where Valnon stood, still waiting for his answer.

"Ready?" he asked. Willow and Jill nodded, both knowing what he wanted to do.

He stepped forward and made it look as if he was about to speak and then quickly knelt as Jill and Willow let loose the spells. Dawn vanished and reappeared next to Giles. However, the magic didn't manage to reach Anya before a black field appeared in front of her.

"Her death is on your hands, Sorcerer," Valnon roared as he nodded to one of the vampires holding the former vengeance demon, who then sunk it's fangs into her neck. Dawn turned away quickly as the vamp then snapped Anya's neck. Xander's anger rose through him like a hurricane and he unleashed a huge ball of magic at the smiling vampires, causing all of them, bar the one closest to Valnon, to explode.

The magic around Tara grew in intensity and began to expand. Her complete attention was focused on the book in front of her as Faith was thrown into the wall by a viscous back kick from Buffy. Just as Buffy was about to strike what would have been a killing blow, the magic around Tara shot forth and engulfed the blond slayer. Faith watched as Buffy was lifted into the air as the magic spun around her. She watched as Buffy's eyes slowly began to return to their normal color and her face took on a look of confusion and fear. Finally the magic dropped her next to the battered and bloodied brunette.

"W-What happened?" she asked as she looked around.

"You were under a spell, B," Faith said, wincing as she stood up. She then noticed Rachel was checking over Tara who was lying unconscious behind the others.

She led the still confused Buffy over to where the others stood and Dawn quickly rushed over and hugged her.

"What are you doing here, Dawn?" Buffy asked her sister.

"It would appear Valnon kidnapped her in hopes we'd surrender. Anya was also taken, but I'm afraid we couldn't save her," Giles informed her as he walked over to them.

"Where's Valnon?" Wesley asked.

"He used his own magic to escape. Most likely to a deeper level of these caves," Xander said as he dusted the last vampire that had charged him from where he stood next to his master.

"Tara's okay; she should wake soon," Rachel said as Xander knelt next to her.

"Give her some time to rest," Doyle said.

"Not too much, as soon as Tara is awake we have to find him and finish this," Xander said. "Giles, give Dawn a weapon, she's gonna need it," he added as he took Tara's head and gently placed it in his lap.

"You can't be serious. She hasn't been involved in anything this serious before," Giles argued.

"We need as much help as possible, Giles," Xander shot back.

"Giles, do as he says; Dawn can handle herself," Buffy said, having complete confidence in her sister's skill, seeing as she herself had trained her along with Giles.

Giles nodded and handed one of the abandoned swords to Dawn, who nodded grimly as she tested its weight. "Can someone tell me what's going on?" Dawn asked as Tara began to stir.

"I'll give you the short version," Xander said and quickly told Dawn everything that happened and by the time he had finished Tara was fully awake.

"You okay?" Xander asked. Tara nodded and quickly kissed Xander. Willow tried not to feel any anger, but she couldn't help it.

"Let's go," Buffy said, wanting revenge for what Valnon had done to her.

Xander and Tara once again took the lead as they exited the cave they had been in and entered another passage. Both were somewhat weak from their fight and were struggling with trying to keep their emotions in check about the friends they had already lost. Graham and one of his remaining teammates were supporting the injured Major Johnson. Only seven of the warriors from the order were left and one of them seemed to be in a very bad condition.

"How many vamps do you think he'll have guarding him?" Faith asked as she caught up with Xander.

"A few, but it's not them we have to worry about," Xander replied turning to the dark slayer.

"Valnon," Faith said to which Xander just nodded.

"How powerful is he?" Buffy inquired from behind them.

"He's one of the strongest demons alive; not only in the ways of magic, but in physical combat as well," Xander informed her.

Buffy frowned at the answer from her friend. Although the spell Valnon hat put on her had been removed, she was still having trouble controlling the emotions from her ancestor Jenna. She had now accepted everything Jill and Rachel had told her and she had promised herself to talk to Xander once this was over and if they survived.

Dawn kept silent as she walked next to her sister. Anya's death was still playing in her mind and she was finding it hard to concentrate. She was also trying to process what Xander had told her about the situation. She found it somewhat worrying to know that not only her sister, but three other of her closest friends were under the influence of some ancient ancestor of theirs. Giles and Wesley were keeping an eye out for any surprises, but so far, they hadn't seen any more vampires or demons. Each was worried about their impending confrontation with the old one. There were not many records about the old ones, but what they did know wasn't very encouraging. Even Angel and Spike had shown fear at the prospect of fighting him. They hoped everyone was ready for what lay ahead.

"He's close," Tara suddenly spoke up.

"Which way?" Xander asked.

Tara pointed to the right and they made their way toward what looked like a forced entrance to a huge cavern. Xander halted the others and carefully looked inside. He noticed at least eighteen of Valnon's vampires and seven demons. He noticed Valnon was standing close to what looked like an altar that had various magical items and books on it. Xander frowned and wondered if Valnon was trying to raise another dead demon to fight them. He turned to the others and nodded his head.

"How many?" Faith asked as she removed her dagger and a stake.

"Eighteen vampires and seven demons in total and Valnon is near an altar. It's possible he's trying to raise another demon," Xander answered. "As soon as we enter Faith, Buffy and I should go straight for Valnon and stop whatever ceremony he's performing," he quickly added.

"Willow and I will place some protective shields on you," Tara said, although they all could see the worry in her eyes as she faced Xander.

"Hurry, we don't have much time left," Xander told her.

Tara and Willow quickly grabbed one of the spell books from Giles and began chanting the spell; Jill and Rachel also chanted something quickly. A moment later a red glow surrounded Xander, Buffy and Faith and then faded.

"What was that?" Faith asked.

"It'll stop Valnon from placing any of his mind spells on you," Rachel answered as Oz and Doyle stepped forward ready to charge in. Spike, Angel and the warriors from the order followed, and finally Giles and Wesley joined them. Dawn, Cordelia, Jill, Rachel, Tara and Willow took up positions behind them. The four witches all prepared some spells for release as they entered the cavern. Xander, Buffy and Faith took up the lead and readied their weapons.

"Stay away from his horn and his claws," Xander warned the two slayers. They both nodded their understanding. "Now!" he shouted.

They charged into the cavern, heading straight for Valnon, who turned in anger at the interruption in his spell. Willow and Tara unleashed a black ball of magic at the seven demons that were now running straight for them. Three of them were caught in the magic, screaming in agony as their skin was burned off. As they fell to the floor, the magic continued to eat its way through them. Rachel and Jill set of two balls of fire at the oncoming vampires, dusting four of them as Oz and Doyle smashed into the lead vampires, followed by the others.

Xander ducked as Valnon swung his giant claws at him and quickly brought his sword up in a spinning arc as he regained his footing, but Valnon easily blocked the attempt. Faith attempted a back kick, but Valnon used his other claw to slam into her, sending her flying backwards. Buffy managed to drop kick Valnon from behind, as he was distracted by Faith and Xander's attacks. Valnon quickly turned and kicked her, knocking her flying backward.

"Is that the best you can do?" Valnon mocked them.

Xander looked over her shoulder quickly to see how the others were doing and was pleased to see the vampires and demons were been held back. He turned and faced Valnon again. He raised his sword and moved in slowly. Quickly he faked a swing to the left which Valnon went to block and then turned and swung his sword to the right, catching the old one in the side, but it didn't manage to penetrate the demon's skin. Valnon swung his left hand backwards, catching Xander on the side of his head, knocking him into Buffy and Faith.

"This is too easy," Valnon sneered as he went to grab the book he had been reading from.

Suddenly, he was sent flying into the altar. He turned to see Tara standing twenty feet away from him, her eyes glowing an unearthly red and her left hand raised. He growled in anger as he stood and made his way toward the sorcerer's mate. Xander saw him move toward Tara and quickly closed his eyes, summoned his own power and sent a ball of purple energy at the demon that quickly engulfed him. Valnon cried out in pain as he tried to counter the attack.

Buffy and Faith both quickly took advantage of Valnon's openness and attacked. Faith hit him with a hard left punch to his stomach while Buffy landed a spin kick in the side. Valnon roared in pain as he finally countered the attack from Xander only to be slammed to the side from the attacks by the two slayers. Faith quickly dropped into a crouch and landed a leg sweep, catching the demon of balance. Valnon went down to one knee as Buffy tried to kick him in the face. Valnon caught her foot and swung her into Faith, knocking them both down. He raised his own clawed hand and sent a wave of black magic at Tara, which sent her flying into Willow and Jill who were running towards them as Oz and Doyle finished off the last vampire. Xander came up behind him and smashed the hilt of his sword into Valnon's back as the demon stood, and quickly followed it up by smashing his knee into the same spot, putting the demon back onto his knees.

A bit further back Giles swung his axe at the demon he was fighting as Wesley tried to get back to his feet from the blow he had received to his back. The demon dodged the blow and lunged at Giles, knocking them both backward. The demon reared back, ready to plunge its claws into the watcher's chest, when suddenly he was sent backwards from a savage kick from Spike. As the demon stood and was ready to attack again, Rachel kicked it from behind, sending it forward as one of the Order stepped forward and cut it in half with its axe, causing its blood to drench him and the blond vampire.

Cordelia tried to stay away from the demon she had been fighting, but she had lost her sword and was trying to stay out of the demon's reach. Graham tried to stand, but he was still recovering from the wound he had in his side. The demon finally lunged at Cordelia, who screamed in terror just as Angel smashed into the demon, sending them both flying into the recovering Wesley. Angel vamped out as he began hitting the demon continually in the face, causing it to bleed. The demon tried to strike back, but couldn't dislodge the enraged vampire. Finally Angel grabbed the demon's head and snapped its neck just as he had a flash of Angelus doing the same to Miss Calendar. He shook the memory off as he went to check on the still shocked seer. The three remaining members of the Order approached silently as they all regrouped, glad to see that there was no one but Valnon left.

Tara quickly stood up again as Xander attacked Valnon. Willow was just regaining her feet as well as Oz and Doyle joined them.

"What now?" Oz asked.

"Stay back," Tara said as she moved to assist the man she loved.

Xander ducked the wild swing from Valnon as the demon got back to its feet and quickly jumped back as its other claw tried to take his legs out. Faith came from behind and managed to ram her dagger into the demon's side. Valnon roared in pain and smashed Faith into Angel and Spike as they rushed forward to help. Faith hit her head on a rock, cutting her forehead, but she quickly got back to her feet and ran forward again. Buffy rushed forward and launched a lot of strikes which Valnon easily blocked. Xander summoned his powers again and launched a black ball of fire at the demon's back. Valnon shrugged off the attack with ease and landed a blow to Buffy's side that he quickly followed up with a kick which slammed her into the cavern wall. He turned to face Xander who was just raising his sword again.

"Time to die, Sorcerer," he sneered.

Tara came to stand by Xander's side, her eyes once again glowing red as she summoned all of her power and that of her ancestor. Valnon approached and his horn began glowing purple as his claws seemed to expand.

"I will crush your mate first," Valnon hissed, as he launched himself at Tara.

Tara somehow managed to side step the attack and raised her hand, shooting out a wave of gold light which sent Valnon into the wall. Xander had also moved out of range of the attack and summoned a ball of blue light and sent it at Valnon as he approached again. The ball seemed to disappear inside the old one who screamed out, as he was set alight.

Faith and Buffy both rejoined them as Valnon used his own power to stop the fire. Tara was about to launch another attack when she was engulfed in a huge wave of black light. She screamed out in agony as the magic began to drain her defensive powers. Xander was quickly overcome with rage as he heard Tara's scream and rushed forward and slammed into Valnon.

He smashed the hilt of his sword into the demon's face repeatedly, not caring as the demon's blood began to splatter him. He raised his sword to strike again, but Valnon managed to slam his elbow into Xander's chest, knocking him off him. Rachel and Jill began chanting a counter spell to release Tara as she screamed again. Buffy attacked Valnon as he got back to his feet and Faith quickly joined her. Tara fell to the floor, semi-conscious, as Rachel and Jill finally managed to counter Valnon's attack. Willow and Xander both rushed over to see if she was okay.

"Xander, she'll be fine, but they need you," Jill told her cousin as he came to kneel at Tara's side, indicating the two slayers who were both trying to get to their feet to face Valnon again.

Xander looked to where Buffy and Faith were and then back to Tara and back again. Jill placed her hand on his shoulder causing him to look at her as Rachel knelt down to check Tara's pulse. Jill indicated the slayers again and Xander reluctantly nodded as he turned and attacked Valnon, just as he picked Faith up and slammed her into the wall.

Xander brought his sword down in a wide arc and this time managed to cut through the demon's tough skin, drawing blood. Valnon dropped Faith as Angel and Spike finally joined the fight. Valnon smashed his elbow into Xander and then faced the two vampires as Buffy checked on Faith. Angel ducked the wide swing as Valnon stepped forward to engage them, however Spike was not as lucky. He was sent flying into the injured Graham as he finally approached the others. Angel managed to land two blows on Valnon's chest before Valnon swung back. His claws cut deep into the ensouled vampire's chest, causing a loud cry of pain from him before Valnon picked him and flung him at the remaining members of the order, they side-stepped the flying vampire as he smashed into the wall and then slumped to the unconscious floor. Xander stood ready to attack again as Valnon turned to face him. Once again the horn was glowing, but Xander was prepared for any attack.

"Now we end this, Sorcerer," Valnon said.

"Your end is now," Xander shot back as he summoned every bit of power within him, causing his sword to begin glowing golden.

Valnon rushed forward with his left hand posed to strike Xander head on. Xander did nothing but wait until Valnon was a few inches from him before he raised his sword and impaled Valnon as he charged at him. The demon roared in pain as Xander fell to his knees, weakened from using nearly all of his power. Tara managed to stand up with Willow's and Jill's help as she summoned her own power and channeled it into Xander through their link. The sword glowed even brighter as Valnon cried out in even more pain. As the others watched a field of golden energy seemed to surround Valnon and Xander, who was still holding on to the sword.

"Faith, catch," Rachel shouted, tossing the dark slayer a large axe that Giles had been using.

Faith caught it and prepared to strike when she was told. Although she didn't know how she knew someone would tell when the time was right. The glow turned to a bright red and then black until it finally faded. Valnon fell to his knees as his blood coated the floor. Xander pulled the sword weakly out of the demon and fell backward.

"Now," Xander said before he blacked out.

Faith swung the axe high before bringing it down and taking the old one's head clean off. A black cloud began to envelope the demon's body as his blood poured out. It faded somewhat and then vanished.

"Giles, burn the head quickly," Tara told the watcher as Jill and Rachel helped her over to where Xander lay.

Giles nodded and quickly took one of the torches off the wall and walked over to where Valnon's head lay, he spat on the head once before setting it alight. Wesley went to help Angel to his feet as he came around, while Spike helped Graham back to his feet.

"Buffy, you and Faith are going to have to carry Xander. He'll be out of it for awhile," Tara said to the two tired slayers. They nodded and quickly picked up the unconscious form of their friend.

Jill and Rachel suddenly began to glow white. Both closed their eyes as a searing pain ripped through them before the glow vanished.

"What was that?" Faith asked as she and Buffy walked toward them, carrying Xander between them.

"The immortality spell we had placed on us has been lifted. We're mortal now," Jill explained with a small smile. Glad that her father's prophecy was now finished and they could all live their lives without worrying about it again.

"Giles, you and Wesley better take all the items and books off that altar and take them with us. Some of them will be very deadly in the wrong hands," Rachel said as they joined the others.

The two watchers nodded and quickly took all the magical items and books off the altar and placed them in the bags they had used to carry their books in.

"What about the bodies of our fallen comrades?" Graham asked as he leaned on Spike for support.

"We'll come back for them later and then we'll blow the entrance to these caves," Xander said weakly from in between the two slayers as he regained consciousness.

The others nodded grimly, except for the three remaining members of the order who quickly asked for their pay. Wesley had brought the money with them knowing the order would want the money on completion of their contract. They took the money, took one last look around the cavern and then left.

Xander led the others silently into the magic shop. They had returned to the cave and retrieved the bodies of their friends, including Riley's body and silently buried them. Then, using the explosives Major Johnson and his men had brought, they had destroyed all entrances to the cave. Whistler sat on the top of the counter, watching them. Each looked worn out and wasted, which wasn't surprising after what they had been through. Once Giles and Wesley had entered and closed the door, Whistler jumped off the counter to speak.

"The powers are thankful to you all for the sacrifices you have made to defeat this evil and fulfill the sorcerer's prophecy," he told them. "Of course I'm sure you'd all be happier if this had never happened, but it was battle that had to be fought and won," he continued as everyone remained silent.

"I guess I'm gonna have to leave now, aren't I?" Doyle asked, sadly squeezing Cordelia's hand.

"No, you won't. Because of Gunn and Fred's death, the powers have granted you another chance to help Angel," Whistler answered him with a small smile.

Cordelia couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as she hugged Doyle as hard as possible. Angel also smiled at the prospect of having his friend back. It helped him put aside the pain he felt at Gunn and Fred's death.

"What about me, Tara, Buffy, Faith and Willow. Will we keep the memories and powers of our ancestors?" Xander inquired as Tara laid her head on his shoulder, missing the pained look from Willow.

"Yes, you will. They'll be a part of you until you die," Whistler answered. "But you will have more control of them now," he added as he noticed Buffy's and Willow's faces turn annoyed at the prospect.

"What about the items we took from Valnon's altar? Should we hide or keep them?" Giles asked as he wiped his glasses with his handkerchief.

"I'll take them and make sure no one finds them again," Whistler said, taking them from the table beside Faith.

"What about me? I broke out of jail to help you guys?" Faith asked, remembering she most likely had the police searching for her.

"The powers have already taken care of that Faith. You are no longer wanted by the police. The powers believe you have redeemed yourself and are ready to rejoin the fight beside the sorcerer," Whistler told her, surprising everyone bar Xander and Giles.

Faith just stared at the balance demon, not really believing what he had told her. She looked to where Buffy sat and noticed she actually smiled at her and nodded. She returned it and then looked to where Xander sat with his arm protectively around Tara. They both smiled at her and she knew she had found a home at last and some real friends. She had another chance here and she would not blow it.

"Good job," Whistler said before he vanished.

Off in the corner, Urial had watched the proceedings with a smile. The old one had been defeated and the prophecy had been fulfilled. But he knew the future son of the sorcerer's descendant and his mate would be called into the fight and he would be of great importance in the continuing fight. But for now they would have some time to heal and rest. His master would make sure of that and he had been made the protector of the sorcerer and his group. He would make sure nothing tried to interfere with what should happen and that no one would harm them until the trials they are destined to fight began.

"What are you going to do now, Rachel? Jill?" Xander asked.

"I want to get to know my cousin. I'm going to stay," Jill said hoping that, now that her father's work was done, she could get to know Xander better.

"And so am I. That way I can get to know my daughter again," Rachel said with a smile, although she also wanted to keep an eye on Xander. She had grown quite attached to her almost nephew. She wanted to know him better and keep him and his friends safe.

"I'll help you find a house then. I have plenty of spare cash to help get you started," Xander offered, glad to hear they would be staying. They were the first members of his family that he liked and he wanted to know them better.

+D+

(Two years later)

Xander couldn't believe the changes that the two years since the end of the prophecy had brought. First, after quite a few discussions with Willow, he and Tara were able to begin a real relationship with Willow's blessing. They were surprised when Willow began dating his cousin Jill. Xander hadn't minded too much. He thought they made a good match and they had soon become very close. Tara was very happy that she had found another love to help heal her heart. Rachel had become close friends with all of the gang, especially Giles. Xander was not surprised when they began dating as well. He was very happy for the watcher to have found someone again. His closeness with Jill and Rachel was great. He had spent a lot of time with them getting to know them and they him. He had managed to get them a house close to where Buffy lived.

Dawn had returned to Sunnydale to live with her sister again. Although the Watchers Council could still try something, they knew someone was guarding them. Faith, although somewhat nervous for the first couple of weeks, finally settled and began anew. Her friendship with Buffy was quickly repaired and the others all began to warm to her. However, it was with Xander that she was the closest. Although it surprised some of the gang, they were glad Faith had finally opened up to them and allowed them to help when she needed it. Faith had surprised everyone when she and Oz began dating. Oz had decided to stay after such a long time away. He had buried his feelings for Willow and moved on, although it took nearly a year before he managed to get Faith to accept going on a date with him.

Angel and his team, which now included Spike, made regular visits to Sunnydale. No one was surprised when Cordelia announced she was getting married to Doyle. The big change however came in the middle of the second year, when he himself proposed to Tara and she accepted. Everyone had seen how close the two had become and knew it would only get deeper. Then, a few months later, Tara announced she was pregnant.

Xander sat watching his fiancée as she slept peacefully. In two months, she was due to give birth to their son. He sometimes found it hard to believe how much his life had changed. He was about to become a father and a husband and, even though they still faced the darkness, he couldn't be happier.

"I love you, Tara," he whispered as he closed his eyes and began to drift into a peaceful dream he heard her reply through their link. 'I love you too, Xand.' He smiled as her hand found his and interlocked with his as they both fell into a deep sleep.

The End


End file.
